The Invisible Hand (JC 7)
by Jedi Carpet
Summary: Continuation after The Greater Sin. Darth Krayt launches a devastating assault on the galaxy to cleanse it of any power that defies his vision.
1. Prologue

Prologue

**From the Private Journal of Jedi Master Jacen Solo, 40.5 ABY**

The Imperial Remnant was the first to fall. A quarter of their fleet, led by my friend Admiral Gilad Pallaeon, was called to face five ships. They all died without taking out a single enemy capital ship. The Imperial governors surrendered within the hour that followed.

The Jedi Coalition was next. Five major battles were fought, all were lost. Tycho Celchu, Gavin Darklighter, Face Loran. Rogue Squadron. Keyan Farlander. Madurrin. Tresina Lobi. Alema Rar. Valin Horn. Rosh Penin. Twenty eight Jedi in total. Thousands of loyal soldiers and pilots. Half of the fleet was decimated before the withdrawal order was completed. Wedge took the other half, pulled out of every sector with as many resources and people as they could carry, destroyed every factory and shipyard he could, and retreated. Nobody knows where the fleet ended up. My best guess is Chiss Space or somewhere else in the Unknown Regions. Every planet that has supported the Jedi is now largely undefended, not that our defenses amounted to anything. Kashyyyk and Dac are expected to be hit first. There is nothing we can do. The Mon Calamari, Quarren and Wookiees are already evacuating to anywhere they can. They figure if they aren't home, their home won't get destroyed. I can only hope that's true.

I don't know the fate of the Jedi Temple. There was a battle... Uncle Luke is still alive, and I know he was there. Jaina, mom and dad were at the battle, too. I...I didn't feel anyone die through the Force, so I know they escaped. I suspect they are going to Corellia, the last safe house solar system in the galaxy protected by the gravity well generator of Centrepoint station, and that's where I'm going, too.

Hapes has been lost, too. I can see it now. I don't know how I missed it. The whole plot to remove Tenel Ka from the crown was part of the plan to take over the Consortium without firing a shot. I should have caved. I should've gone along with it and let Carys give up the throne and get Tenel Ka back and just left with my family. The entire cluster was destroyed and Carys was killed because _I fought back_. Their blood is on my hands. They used chemical weapons, orbital bombardments, legions of shock troops...the entire Hapan fleet was wiped out fighting to the last man and woman, and every planet's population was systematically massacred without remorse while escaping ships were slaughtered by the blockade. Tenel Ka and I were at Reef Fortress when Hapes was hit. We barely escaped with our lives and the contents of our memorial to the Jedi using the _Solo Quest's_ cloaking device to get past the blockade. I don't think I have any food on board except the emergency rations. We had to leave that quickly. I don't know if many Hapans escaped, but Isolder was on diplomatic business with the Chiss. I hope he's safe.

The Black Vornskrs are the only ones who have held their own, if just barely. Eriana was prepared to keep her fleets mobile and fade away at any signs of hostility. She has set up safe houses around the galaxy, but mobility and the guise of piracy are keeping the Vornskrs alive. By now she should have her base set up in the Maw. It is the one place that they'll never be able to attack – their ships are too big to fit through the black holes, or the defenses are too great for smaller ships. Eriana has turned the Maw into the best defended location in the galaxy. I almost wish they would attack there. If I can't find Jaina on Corellia, that's where I'll go next.

As far as I know there are less than thirty Jedi left, not including the younglings. Luke Skywalker. Cilghal. Kenth Hamner. Tionne Solusar. Kam Solusar. Kyp Durron. Octa Ramis. Lowbacca. Streen. Corran Horn. Kirana Ti. Kyle Katarn. Mara Jade Skywalker. Jaden Korr. Tesar Sebatyne. Jaina Solo. Tyria Sarken Tainer. Tresk Im'nel. Markre Medjev. Tekli. Chitter. Doran Tainer. Jysella Horn. Tiu Zax. Leia Organa Solo. Nelani Dinn. Sanola Ti. Eriana Fostenon. And me.

I can't even count Tenel Ka in that list. Ta'a Chume broke her. It will be a long time before she is able to fight again. Danni Quee, while not a Jedi, is still on Zonoma Sekot helping us as she can. Looking at the days ahead, we'll need all the help we can get.

They call themselves the Bogan Empire. Their ships are unstoppable, their warriors are on par with the Jedi, and there are many more of them than us. I don't know much of what happened or why, but I do know one thing: Darth Krayt must pay for his crimes.

* * *

><p>AN: Again, I own nothing (though I did create Eriana).

Welcome to another exciting chapter! I hope you enjoy reading it. For those of you just tuning in, this is part 7 of my series. Please take a look at my profile for links to all of the others. This might stand on it's own, but you'll be fairly lost without having read some of the other content on any of the OC/Black Vornskrs stuff. Guys...in this one, all hell is breaking loose. As you read above, there have been losses, and there will be many more to come. I'll be exploring some very real themes in this story, and I'll be the first to say that what you see is not always what you think it is. I've put a lot of thought into this story and there are things I wrote in The Greater Sin that were shaped as I started writing and planning The Invisible Hand.

Again, I thank my faithful fans for sticking with me over the years, and I hope you all don't track down my IP address and kill me in my sleep for this one :)

P.S. The Invisible Hand is an economic metaphor conceived by Adam Smith in the 1700s that an economy will always strive towards a natural state of equilibrium through self-regulating tendencies of market forces. What this means in the context of this story is...Darth Krayt got his MBA while nobody was looking and I'll let him explain it for me.


	2. Dramatis Personae

Dramatis Personae (in alphabetical order)

Allaya Solo – Female second-born child of Jacen and Tenel Ka

Anakin Solo – Male first-born child of Jacen and Tenel Ka

Arthur Daniels – Jedi Coalition Fleet scientist, Major

Ben Skywalker – Male Jedi Apprentice to Lowbacca

Boba Fett – Male Mandalorian leader, bounty hunter

Danni Quee – Jedi Scientist

Darth Krayt – Tattoinian Male Sith Lord, leader of Bogan Empire

Don Cooper – Male Black Vornskr General, 4th Fleet

Eriana Fostenon – Female Black Vornskrs leader, Former Jensaarai Defender

Erinn – Jedi Apprentice to Jaina Solo

Han Solo – Corellian male ex-smuggler

Jacen Solo – Coruscanti Male Jedi Master, Black Vornskr leader

Jaina Solo – Coruscanti Female Jedi Master

Kyp Durron – Male Jedi Master

Leia Organa Solo – Alderanian Female Jedi Knight

Lowbacca – Male Wookiee Jedi Master, Black Vornskr Lieutenant

Luke Skywalker – Male Jedi Master, leader of Jedi Coalition

Mara Jade Skywalker – Female Jedi Master

Octa Ramsis – Female Jedi Master

Stragoron – Male Black Vornskr General, 1st Fleet

Pulastra - Female Black Vornskr General, 3rd Fleet

Zara – Female Twi'leki Bogan Assassin

Tenel Ka Djo – Female Jedi Knight, Queen of Hapes Consortium

Wedge Antillies – Supreme Admiral of Jedi Fleet Operations

(I think that's everyone)


	3. Loss

A/N: Because I'm a nice guy, I'm going to post this next one early. I'll probably set into a routine of posting on Fridays, as is typical for me. I apologize in advance. This one isn't supposed to be pleasant.

* * *

><p>Part 1: Collapse<p>

* * *

><p>The old man's withered form laid on the hospital bed, unmoving and weak. The left side of his face was slack, all muscle control lost, and the right looked hardly any better. It looked like he had aged fifty years in a couple of days. Few would recognize him for who he was in this state. A former smuggler. A thief, an expert gambler. A hero of the rebellion to restore the republic. The father of three Jedi. The great Han Solo.<p>

Jacen looked at his father through the sheet of transparisteel in the hospital and fought with all his strength to hold back the tears hovering behind his eyelids. His sister and mom rested her heads against his shoulders, and he held them against him around their shoulders with what little force of will he had left. He had to stay strong; they were depending on him.

Han had suffered a stroke and was allergic to whatever miracle drugs the best doctors on Corellia had available to cure it. Jaina had said during the battle they were swarmed with enemy fighters. She and Leia were in the turrets firing at a swarm of traitorous starfighters. Han was in the cockpit flying. That's when Jaina described what felt like her heart freezing solid – she knew he was in trouble. She had barely made it to the cockpit to pull the _Falcon_ out of a collision course for one of the capital ships. She did the only thing she could – the Jedi Temple had already jumped to hyperspace, so she left whatever other Jedi who were still fighting behind to escape to Corellia. But the damage was done. They were too far from a medical facility and the stasis field on the _Falcon_ had been damaged in the battle. Han Solo would never be the same again.

Han's eyes fluttered open and they watched as he tried to say something to the medical droid that was assigned to him.

"Let me," Jacen whispered as Leia and Jaina tried to pull away from him and enter Han's room. He left them behind and pushed the door open without waiting for a response. Han saw him approach and smiled with the right side of his mouth, his lopsided grin much more pronounced than usual.

"Hey kid," Han said. "Why s-so s-sad?"

Jacen sat on the bed and took his dad's right hand in his own. His grip was firm, but still weak. Too weak to be the hands of the man who helped topple the Empire, smuggle goods across the galaxy and escape death a thousand times. And far too weak to be the strong hands that carried him, Jaina and Anakin when they were kids.

"I wish I brought Tenel Ka and the kids. They're with Corran and Erinn at the hotel," Jacen said evasively. He did not know what else to say. His mind went blank as he tried to think of something – anything – to say, but he sat there in stunned silence.

"I like to s-see 'em," Han slurred. "Doc ssssay..."

Jacen forced a smile and nodded. "I know. One week. Their best healers..."

"We all die, Jassen," Han said seriously. The grim haunted look that Jacen never expected to see looking at him from his father's face sent a shiver down his spine. Han squeezed his son's hand harder with great effort and his eyes glowed with a fading glimmer of the brilliant life that Jacen knew he'd never see again. "Proud of you. And Jaina. All of you. Alwaysss have."

"I'm not going anywhere," Jacen said. His efforts to stop himself from crying were no longer enough and tears began to trickle down his cheeks. "We're all staying right here."

"No," Han said. "I want my family here. Luke. Mara. All I have left iss family. Find them."

Han's head rolled to the side and his grip faltered.

"Dad?" Jacen asked desperately. He squeezed his dad's hand, but the grip was not there. He rolled his dad's head back to face him and felt for a pulse. "Dad, please wake up!"

Jaina and Leia rushed into the room at Jacen's panicked call and stopped at the foot of the bed.

"Master Solo has fallen asleep," The droid attendant said in his horribly monotone synthesized voice. "His pulse and oxygen levels are nominal for someone of his condition. Please allow Master Solo to rest."

Jacen numbly stood up and retreated to where his mom and sister were still standing at the end of the bed.

"He wants us to bring the family together," Jacen told them. "Luke, Mara, Ben. I...I think he wants to say...goodbye."

"We have no idea where the temple is," Jaina said. She looked over at Han helplessly. "I don't know if we can find them in time."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Over the course of the next two days, Han's condition degraded. His words became more slurred and difficult to articulate, and he began using the wrong words to his own frustration. Jacen and Jaina took turns with their mom at his side and alternated taking trips outside the Centrepoint gravity well field to try contacting Luke and Mara on the encoded Jedi frequencies. While watching Han and Leia with Anakin and Allaya, the middle generation of Jacen, Jaina and Tenel Ka remained outside in the observation area trying to soak in the heart-wrenching happiness of the two toddlers playing with their grandfather, likely for the last time. Tenel Ka and Jacen stood together watching their kids with arms around each other, seemingly holding the other up while Jaina stood somewhat awkwardly off to the side on her own. As if through an unspoken agreement, they all knew that this was probably the last time their family would ever be together.

_Come home._

Jacen, Jaina, Tenel Ka and Leia all looked in a south-westerly direction at the same time. Even Anakin looked around as if he was trying to find the source of the mysterious voice.

"Did you?" Jaina asked, looking at her brother and sister-in-law.

_My children, come home._

"That was Uncle Luke," Jacen said.

"But where is 'home,'" Jaina asked. "Coruscant? Tattoine? They're both in hostile territory."

"Did you...?" Leia popped her head out of the door from Han's room.

"Yavin Four," Tenel Ka said. "Where we all learned the Force. That is where Master Skywalker wants us to go."

Jaina and Leia looked at her with surprise and Jacen nodded slowly. "You're right. It's the only place most of the Jedi who weren't on the temple would consider to be a home."

"I'm not going," Leia said. The pain in her eyes frightened her children more than anything, but they saw the determination in her eyes as well.

Tenel Ka and Jacen exchanged a look and Jacen nodded.

"I will stay, too," Tenel Ka said. Despite her strong appearance, Jacen could feel the alien sensation of fear spike within her. After the torture she experienced from the hands of her grandmother, she wanted to stay with the safety of their family.

"We'll be back as fast as we can," Jaina promised her mother. "And we'll bring Uncle Luke and Aunt Mara back."

"I know you will," Leia said. "Don't take too long."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Over the many hours that Jacen and Jaina waited in orbit of Yavin IV, Jedi ships trickled into the Yavin system and took up a loose formation with them. Greetings were exchanged on arrival, but silence generally persisted between the growing fleet of small freighters and fighters as if picking up on the sombre mood of the Solo twins.

While Jacen meditated in his quarters, Jaina took it upon herself to do something _useful_ and organize the fleet. She sent every new arrival a set of coordinates to plot a course for should trouble arrive and designated a position within their makeshift formation. Eventually, tired of waiting, she sent Kyp and Octa to scout the surface of Yavin IV around where the Massassi temple had once stood to look for signs of Luke or Mara. As Kyp and Octa finally returned from the moon, Jacen re-entered the cockpit and sat down at the communication station and activated an open channel without preamble.

"Jedi ships, power engines and head for Yavin V at full throttle," Jacen ordered. "Repeat, set course for Yavin V immediately with all speed. We have an enemy fleet arriving in under a minute."

"There's nothing on sensors," Jaina argued as she examined her displays.

"I sensed it through the Force," Jacen replied, switching to the co-pilot seat and rerouting tactical controls to his location. "Krayt sent one of his destroyers."

Jaina's heart sunk as she hurried through the process to bring the _Solo Quest_ back up to full power. While she had only faced off against a turncoat Imperial fleet and some of Krayt's smaller ships defending the Jedi Temple, according to Jacen, two of Krayt's destroyers had massacred the entire Hapes Consortium on their own. The small Jedi fleet of fighters and frigates would have no match against one of those ships.

"You're the only one who has seen one of these ships," Jaina said. "What should we expect?"

Jacen closed his eyes for three seconds. When he reopened them, Jaina's eyes widened in surprise. He looked _terrified_.

"Expect your worst nightmare. They're here."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Fifteen kilometres of obsidian black warship dropped out of hyperspace directly over where the small Jedi fleet had been two minutes earlier and launched a devastating assault on that location. Four thousand blaster turrets fired obsessively on their assigned coordinates, but hit nothing as the Jedi ships were already retreating toward Yavin V.

"Update targeting coordinates," Wyyrlok growled. Deep within the enormous warship, the oval shaped command centre's entire wall glittered with holographic images projected from overlapping cameras on the exterior hull, providing the command crew with a view of the ship's surroundings while being safely protected from any counter attack. Wyyrlok narrowed his yellow eyes at the escaping ships and bit back a curse. The Jedi had been alerted to their presence and, in the two minute hyperspace jump, and had moved out of the pre-determined kill zone. And their ships were much faster than the _Tormenter_. "Launch all fighters. I do not want to report failure to Lord Krayt. Maintain pursuit until all Jedi lifesigns have been obliterated."

"Acknowledged, milord," Captain Kort's sharp Coruscanti accent replied. One of the many defectors that had joined the Bogan Empire Fleet at the conquest of Coruscant, Kort had proven an able and efficient officer at executing Wyyrlok's commands, likely well motivated by having witnessed the execution of his predecessor. "Launching all fighters."

Wyyrlok ignored the bustling activity around him as the _Tormenter_ was steered toward the escaping Jedi and his ship began spewing fighters out of the hanger bays. Two hundred and eighty eight starfighters against a dozen Jedi ships. It should be a short battle.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"Look at that firestorm!" Jaina exclaimed. "They must have..."

"About twenty thousand weapon emplacements," Jacen finished for her. "Heavy turbolasers, ion cannons, laser turrets, concussion mission launchers and proton torpedo turrets. And a super laser on top that can go through two Battle Dragons. It's a hell of a ship."

Jaina looked at the rear display and noted the design. Like two parallelograms put together along the long edge, the arrowed design looked both menacing and efficient. Sensors indicated it to be fifteen kilometres long and ten wide.

"They're launching fighters," Jacen reported in his emotionless battle voice. "They look like the big ship but they are bloody fast and powerful. Three laser canons on top, and a dozen torpedoes each. They can run down an X-wing no problem, and squadron leaders are usually Force sensitive. Each command ship carries two wings worth. We think they have manufacturing capabilities to recoup losses, too."

"Jedi ships, throw all available energy into rear shields and engines," Jaina ordered. "Clear the gravity well as soon as you can and scatter. May the Force be with you."

"ETA for the first wave is two minutes," Jacen reported, reading his sister's mind of what she wanted to know. "The slowest ships won't break the gravity well for almost three."

"We need to buy a minute," Jaina surmised and toggled the comm. channel. "Kyp, Octa, anyone else in a fighter, we need to engage the enemy to buy time for the slower ships. Form up on me and prepare to engage."

"_Have you seen how many there are out there?_" Kyp demanded. "_Two squadrons will be on top of us in a couple minutes with another _twenty two_ squadrons are right behind them!_"

"We only need to engage for a minute," Jaina replied. "Keep them off the slower ships. If we can hold off the first wave, our ships can jump before the second arrives."

"Jaina, we only have seven real combat ships, including the _Quest_," Jacen said. "And this ship was designed to run first, not fight."

"Would you rather we leave Tesar and Tresk to die without doing anything? They're in the two slowest ships."

Jacen fell silent.

"I didn't think so."

Blaster bolts began lancing past the cockpit, but Jacen's readings indicated they were too far away to cause any real damage. Yet.

"Readying laser turrets and concussion missiles," Jacen said. He put an optical imaging device on his head to provide a targeting view for his linked turrets and swung them to aim stern. Sensors indicated the enemy ships were still out of range but the distance indicator was running out of numbers fast.

"Nelani, Kyp, and Octa, prepare to break port. Tyria, Doran, and Jaden, prepare to break starboard. We'll take the middle. Engage at will. Use shield trio techniques to maximize defenses and wait for my signal."

Jaina watched as the enemy fighters drew closer, noting the increasing effect of their weapons against the rear shields. "Break, now!"

She spun the _Solo Quest_ in a twisted hair-pin turn and Jacen swung the turrets and shield power to forward. The distance between the _Quest_ and enemy ships closed rapidly and a pair of concussion missiles took out two of the ships while Jacen used the combined fire of the two turrets to blast another two apart. Blaster bolts and torpedoes rocked the _Quest_, but the shields held against the brief onslaught of return fire before the _Quest_ blasted through the enemy formation. Jaina swung the ship around again and slammed the throttle to full, easily keeping up with the enemy ships. Half of the arrow-like fighters scrambled, the other half stayed on course for the escaping Jedi fleet.

"Shoot-"

"Got-"

"There-"

"Ya."

Jaina and Jacen worked in unison blasting enemy ships apart and trying to minimize damage to the _Quest,_ but the fighters began to regroup and counter attack. Communication between the two shield trios was as frantic as the twins' own as the battle frenzy to wipe out the enemies persisted.

"_Taking damage_."

"_Redirect shield power_."

"_Failure on fourth engine!_"

"_Losing shields._"

"_Break port, I've got you_."

"_He's right on top of me!_"

"_Cycle shield power and break starboard."_

"The next wave is almost on top of us," Jacen reported as two more fighters exploded under his turret fire, but not before they were able to launch several torpedoes at Tesar's ship. An unexpected impact penetrated the shields of the _Quest_ and a panel exploded above Jacen's head, showering him with sparks and singeing his hair. "We can't take much more of this!"

"How many have jumped?"

"None, they're all providing interference for the slower ships," Jacen said. "Frak! Tesar's ship is gone!"

"Jedi ships, _get out of here!_" Jaina screamed into her mic.

"_I'm hit! Gonna blow!_"

"_Eject! Eject!_"

A burst of static denoted a destroyed fighter and Jaina bit back another curse.

"_Nelani ejected_," Kyp reported. "_Two fighters are going after her! I can't get to her!_"

"Bring us around," Jacen ordered. "I'll try to pull her in."

"How?" Jaina demanded, but complied.

"Aing Tii technique," Jacen said impatiently. "Same one I used to save Allaya on Hapes."

The _Solo Quest_ flipped around and raced toward Nelani as two enemy fighters closed on her position, opening fire at her bright orange suit floating between the stars. The blaster bolts tracked harmlessly around her until Jacen felt one blaster bolt lock onto her trajectory.

"No!" He shouted.

An X-wing dropped out of hyperspace right between Nelani and the enemy ships, absorbing the stream of blaster bolts on its shield as a second X-wing appeared right behind it and blasted the two enemy ships apart with four well-placed proton torpedoes. The two X-wings joined up in formation with each other and turned their assault to attacking the last few fighters still pursuing the lagging Jedi ships. Jacen finally locked his senses on Nelani and yanked her through space and time. A loud thud behind him told him something landed behind him.

"Thanks!" Nelani's muffled voice came through her helmet.

Another pair of torpedoes rocked the ship and Jaina focused her attention on evading the attacking ships with a steep dive and a spin to starboard.

"_Jedi ships, slave your navicomputers to Artoo,"_ Luke Skywalker's calm voice transmitted from one of the new X-wings. "_Mara will be the last ship out_."

Another torpedo exploded against the _Quest_'s shields and Jacen returned fire while Jaina programmed the navicomputer to accept Artoo's override.

"This is gonna be close," Jaina said through gritted teeth. "The next wave is almost on top of us.

"Looks like we're all clear of the gravity well," Jacen said. A chirp came from Jaina's side of the cockpit and Jacen smiled grimly. "Navicomputer is locked in. It's now or never, Uncle Luke!"

A second later, the fleet jumped into hyperspace and both siblings sunk into their seats. Even though the battle was only a few minutes long, the stress had drained them.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-


	4. Memory

Eight hours and three jumps through hyperspace later, the _Solo Quest_ landed on a clearing between all the other Jedi ships on Zonoma Sekot. Not far from the clearing was the magnificent tower of the Jedi Temple sticking up like a giant metallic finger amid the sprawling jungle of the living planet, looking both out of place and spectacular in the mid-day sun.

All the Jedi who arrived together made their way up the path toward the Jedi Temple in complete silence, not even making eye contact with each other or giving the slightest hint of recognition. They all knew that Luke would not be summoning them together without the gravest of news.

Jacen and Jaina walked side by side as they entered the Temple with Nelani just behind them. Having last visited the Temple years ago, Jacen marvelled at the spectacular design with a level of interest that nobody else seemed to match. Supposedly based on the design of the old Jedi Temple on Coruscant, the grandeur was unmistakeable as a testament to the long lost period of the Old Republic and the longest lasting Jedi Order in modern history. Tall pillars, sprawling staircases, and long corridors of marble and gold provided aesthetics that had little to do with the pragmatic and simplistic values of the Jedi Order.

_Perhaps that is what Master Skywalker had wanted_, Jacen reflected. _A reminder that we're not worthy of such grandeur._

The procession of returning Jedi were joined by other Jedi Knights and Masters who were already at the Temple as they travelled on instinct until they found themselves at the highest peak of the Jedi Temple in the Council Chamber. Members of the Jedi Council automatically took their seats, leaving empty seats as a memorial to their friends who had fallen or who were not present. Luke Skywalker, Cilghal, Tionne Sulstar, Kam Sulstar, Kyp Durron, Octa Ramis, Lowbacca, Kyle Katarn and Kenth Hamner took their seats, leaving Streen, Kirana Ti, Mara Jade and Ben Skywalker, Jaden Korr, Jaina and Jacen Solo, Tyria Sarken-Tainer, Tresk Im'nel, Markre Medjev, Tekli, Chitter, Doran Tainer, Jysella Horn, Tiu Zax, Erinn Sorrin, Danni Quee, and Nelani Dinn standing around the outside perimeter of chairs. No one dared stand behind Luke, leaving a gap in the ring large enough that their Grand Master could see everyone without turning his back on anyone.

"Sanola Ti sends her regrets," Kirana Ti said of her niece, breaking the solemn silence. "She is on Dathomir preparing defenses against Krayt's army."

"Corran Horn, Leia Organa Solo and Tenel Ka are on Corellia, seeing to the safety and health of Han Solo," Jaina spoke up. Quizzical looks from most of the crowd were all but ignored by the twins as they locked eyes with their uncle.

Luke nodded and stood up, his face much older and grimmer than anyone had ever seen him, even in the height of the Yuuzhan Vong war.

"We're all that's left," Luke said. Everyone looked around at each other taking in the faces of their peers. "For the second time in far too short a history, the Jedi Order has been reduced to a handful of members. We're threatened again by an enemy that we do not seem to have a chance at defeating. Darth Krayt and his Bogan Empire are wiping us out just like Palpatine did.

"I don't know how to stop them. Their ships plough through our lines like nothing. Their warriors outnumber us a dozen to one and their numbers are growing every day as more planets are conquered. Even if we all fight together as one, I fear we will lose against even one of their fleets. All of our allies have been wiped out or are as defenceless as we are."

Luke looked down at the crest of a green and blue pair of crossed lightsabers embedded in the floor at his feet and exhaled heavily. When he looked back up, Jacen thought his uncle looked so weary that he was going to pass out from exhaustion.

"We must disband the Jedi Order if we are to save it," Luke said. "My friends, we have two paths before us. We can stay here on Sekot, or we can return to the galaxy at large and plant the seeds of rebellion. Find a new life. Disappear into the shadows. Live in discretion. And help as you can. If we coordinate our efforts through our allies, the Black Vornskrs, we can make a difference. You will need to shed your identities as Jedi, but more importantly, you need to _survive_. We still have a chance to undermine Krayt's empire. The legacy of the Jedi is now in the hands of each of you and it will be up to you to make sure that one day the Jedi Order will return by helping in the ways you deem best. This generation may not be able to defeat Krayt, but one day his Empire will fall just like Palpatine's did. We all carry the responsibility to make sure this will come to pass.

"You all came together at my call to learn the path and legacy of the Jedi. We all entered this temple today as the closest of friends, bonded together through years of training, battle, hardship, and the Force. Today, what you decide is up to you, but when we leave this sanctuary, we must leave as strangers for our own protection. Please take a few hours to meditate on the Force on your best path and come to me with your decision when you have made it."

Luke sat down and bowed his head in contemplation as everyone stood around in stunned silence, looking back and forth as if to see if their friends heard what they had heard. Kyle Katarn stepped forward.

"Luke, what about the Jedi Temple and the younglings?" he asked. "Wouldn't Sekot be a safe place for us?"

"Sekot has agreed to keep the Temple safe," Luke said. "Anyone who wants to stay behind can. It isn't safe out there, but I feel it isn't _right_ to stay here either."

Slowly, one by one, everyone looked around at each other absorbing Luke's words. As Luke's words sunk in, they all came to realize the grim fact that they all had no argument against the last Grand Master of the Jedi Order.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

It was not until the doors clicked shut behind her that Jaina realized that there was a reason she had stayed in the Jedi Council chamber while everyone else filtered out. Luke gestured to Mara, Jacen, Jaina, Erinn and Ben to take seats in the chairs closest to him, with Ben filling in the space between Luke and Lowbacca.

"There is one last possibility," Luke said with a heavy heart.

"We need to _neutralize_ Darth Krayt," Jacen said, picking up on his uncle's trepidation. "Covertly."

Jaina and Ben looked at Jacen in disbelief, astounded that he would suggest such a thing, but Luke's quiet nod and distant gaze brought attention back to him.

Everyone sat in grim silence as they all ran through the very same thoughts. Krayt's fleet was impossible to defeat. He was heavily guarded at all times. Even without his legion of warriors surrounding him, he was individually as dangerous as any Sith Lord any of them had ever faced. Whatever mission they made against him was likely to be a suicide mission. But they all knew that it had to be done. Krayt was too dangerous.

"Dad's dying," Jaina finally blurted. Luke and Mara both looked up at her in shock. "He had a stroke. He is...he wants..."

"He wants to be with his family when its time," Jacen finished, wiping a tear from his cheek with the back of his hand. "I know how important it is to take out Krayt. Believe me, I know better than anyone. But Krayt can wait another day. Dad..."

Jacen's voice trailed off and the tears finally trickled down his cheeks. Lowie reached over and put a paw on his friend's shoulder, growling a few reassuring words.

"We'll leave for Corellia immediately after I talk to Octa," Luke said. "Is your ship ready?"

"She took a few good shots, but nothing that will slow us down," Jaina said. "We can do any remaining repairs in hyperspace."

[So, to be clear, we're going to do this?] Lowie barked. [Assassinate Darth Krayt.]

"No," Luke said. "Jacen knows how to permanently strip someone of the Force. He and I will neutralize him. You're not going anywhere near him. Lowie, I want you and Ben to help out on another mission as representatives of the Black Vornskrs. You're both too valuable to risk on a mission like this, and I want you to survive this conflict to help lead the Jedi Order when it is ready to be rebuilt."

Lowie grunted his acknowledgement, but Ben merely stared at his dad in surprise. It was the first time Luke had ever suggested he might have a hand in the future of the Jedi, and it caught him off guard.

"I don't think any of us are expendable at this point," Jacen said, mostly oblivious to his cousin's reaction, but stealing some of the light from his eyes. "But I think two of us will be too few to reach Krayt. A well-structured team has a stronger possibility of stopping Krayt. No offense to anyone here, but I suggest Eriana, Aunt Mara, Uncle Luke and myself are the most likely to survive. Aunt Mara, you have more experience sneaking in and out of anywhere than anyone I know, and the four of us are among the best duelists in the Order. If anyone has a chance of taking him out, it's us."

"You know, you can stop calling us Aunt and Uncle, especially when organizing a hit squad," Mara suggested. "You're not twelve anymore."

Jacen and Jaina both shared an embarrassed smile.

"I'd volunteer, but I'm pretty sure you'll want…" Jaina hesitated to choose her words, but decided to be blunt. "To separate Jacen and I in case things go wrong."

"Actually, I want you to do something else for me," Luke said. He gestured to the quiet girl sitting beside his niece. "I want you and Erinn to find Wedge. We'll need his ships if we have any hope of mopping up Krayt's fleets. Honestly, I think you have the more important mission. Lowie, Ben, I'd like you to go along with Jaina."

"We're in, too," Kyp's voice came from the door, drawing everyone's attention to him and Octa. "Sorry, I wanted to ask about Han, but you'll need more Jedi to take Krayt out. Every scrap of intel we've gathered has him surrounded by his warriors at all times. Four Jedi won't be enough."

"Octa," Luke gestured for the ever-miserable-looking woman to enter the chamber. "Can you locate him? Work with Lowie and his Vornskr contacts, and try to reach out to Talon Karrde. He still owes me a few favours. Try to locate Krayt and figure out a way we can get to him."

"Yes, Master Skywalker," Octa said with a slight bow.

"Please, just Luke," he said with a gentle smile. "We're all friends here now."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Long before reaching the hospital on Corellia the Solo-Skywalker clan sensed Leia's anger and grief through the Force. By the time they arrived, they found Tenel Ka hugging Leia as they both cried openly. Luke immediately relieved the former Queen of his sister and Tenel Ka ran to embrace Jacen just out of earshot of Leia.

"We came back in the morning and he was gone," she whispered, sniffing her nose. "The droid said he did not survive the night and was removed…and lost."

"Lost?" Jacen choked out, releasing Tenel Ka and looking into her eyes. "How did they lose him?"

The tears and shaking of her head told him the only answer he knew he would get. He transmitted what Tenel Ka had told him to his sister wordlessly over the twin bond, and she looked at him from across the room in Mara's arms with the same pained expression he knew he was looking at her with.

Han Solo, hero, friend, and father, was gone.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The days passed painfully for the Skywalker-Solo family as they coped with the loss of Han and the sad reality that life had to continue without him. Leia became so emotional that Luke, Mara and Jaina had to take turns keeping her company and focused on something other than wanting to find someone to blame for Han's unexpected disappearance and, as they discovered two days later, cremation. Despite her initial strength in supporting her mother-in-law, Tenel Ka relapsed into another bout of instability from the post-traumatic stress of her incarceration and Jacen spent every moment at her side easing her mind into recovering some semblance of control while fighting his own grief. Lowbacca, Ben, and Erinn took up caring for Anakin and Allaya, but the overall mood of the family was understandably distraught.

Two days after Han's death, a memorial was held in the _Millennium Falcon_ passenger area. Kyp, Lowbacca, the entire Solo-Skywalker family, R2-D2 and C-3PO stood in a small circle. Lowie had found a small round table to put a candle and Han's old DL-44 blaster on. Leia lit the candle and stepped back to her brother's side. Everyone watched the candle burn in silence until Kyp finally stepped forward.

"Han Solo saved my life," the tall dark-haired Jedi said. "He rescued me from a life of slavery in the mines of Kessel and brought me to discover the family I've always been looking for. He was the first person to show me that people could be trusted."

Kyp stepped back into the circle and Mara took a step forward.

"That man was a thorn in my side for years," Mara laughed, and a few others chuckled for a second as well. Mara noticed a small smile on Leia's face and bit her lower lip for a second before continuing. "But he welcomed me into the only family I've ever known. The only non-Jedi in a family of Jedi, he always found ways to surprise us and teach us that no matter how bad things get, he could always get this ship to jump to hyperspace or best us in a game of sabbacc."

Mara stepped back to the circle while everyone laughed again and switched spots with Luke. Luke took a step forward and placed a hand on Han's DL-44. His brow furrowed in contemplation as he stared into the candle as if it could provide him the words he was looking for.

"A long time ago Obi-Wan Kenobi and I walked into Mos Eisley's cantina and offered a spacer and his first mate seventeen thousand credits to get us from Tattoine to Alderaan," Luke said. "He was scruffier than a bantha, his ship looked like a piece of junk, and his only redeeming quality was that he travelled with a Wookiee. If someone told me that day that I had just met my future brother-in-law..."

Luke looked back at Leia and saw a sad smile on her face.

"I probably would've said 'I have a sister?'" Everyone chuckled and Luke waited a moment before continuing.

"We fought together in too many battles and wars over too many years. In the darkest hours his wit and sarcasm would inspire and drive us to persevere. He was a natural leader, and the best friend and brother anyone could ask for."

Luke retreated into a hug from his sister and continued to hold her as Jaina stepped forward.

"Dad taught me everything I know about how to strip down and rebuild a hyperdrive and fly circles around my uncle." A curious look from Luke caught her eye and she shrugged at him. "I'm still working on that last part.

"Raising Jedi couldn't have been easy for him. But he always found time for us. He taught us how to sneak cookies when mom wasn't looking and he would stay in and watch holovids with the family at least once a week. Whenever one of us wasn't kidnapped, that is. He brought us to the most fun places on Coruscant and always had the funniest looks of displeasure when Mom made us attend those horrible political dinners."

Jaina and Leia locked eyes for a second and they both laughed openly recounting the memories of Han in his formal military uniform listing dozens of reasons to _not_ be available.

"Dad worked as hard on the family as he did on the _Falcon_, and we all know how hard he worked on the _Falcon_. If we look at this ship, we see Dad everywhere. The way he jury-rigged the hyperdrive and everything a dozen times. If you look inside yourselves, you'll see that helped us the same way. Maybe it wasn't the best solution but whatever he did always seemed to work."

Jaina retreated to hug her Mom. After a few whispered words between them, Jacen stepped into the circle and placed a hand on the blaster on the table. He closed his eyes and touched the Force, smiling as if he had reached out and touched his dad's hand one last time.

"Dad taught me everything I know about how to strip down and rebuild a hyperdrive," Jacen said, getting the laughs he expected. "Thankfully Mom was a bit more successful in teaching me her trade. But Dad did teach me some of the most important things I ever learned. He taught me the importance of family and friends. He taught me right from wrong. He taught me how to be a strong person without being a bad person. I never got the chance to tell him this, but what he taught me saved my life when I was captured by the Yuuzhan Vong. When I had to decide between what was right and wrong, the part of me from Dad, and all of you, was there. The part that reminded me to be a good person and to be true to myself. That part of him will always live with us."

Jacen retreated to Tenel Ka's side and took her hand, taking comfort in the gentle squeeze.

Leia finally stepped forward and also put her hand on the DL-44.

"The first time I met Han he was running down the detention cell of the Death Star firing a blaster over his shoulder, chasing my brother around trying to rescue me from the Empire against his will. Two minutes later we were in a garbage compactor almost getting crushed to death. Sufficed to say, he was the last person I ever expected to marry."

Leia looked at everyone around her in turn and locked eyes with her brother.

"I lost Alderann, my home, that day, but I also gained so much more," Leia said. "A brother and a future husband. Looking back at that first day I met Han I see it was the day that changed my entire life. That _he_ changed my entire life. And I'll always miss him."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The gentle hand on Jaina's shoulder spooked her enough that she jumped slightly off the ground, but she recognized her brother quickly enough to not bash his head in with her hydrospanner. They both looked at each other for a few moments recognizing the same look of exhausted tension they imagined was on their own face.

"All ready to go?" Jaina finally asked.

"Yeah, I guess," Jacen said. "Heading to Chiss space first?"

"That's the plan," Jaina said. "We'll see if the Chiss border patrols have noticed any giant Mandalorian battleships wandering by lately and go from there. I'm almost done the pre-flight. Mom's going to come with us. She..."

"We're all she has left," Jacen finished knowingly. "And I'm on a suicide mission to hunt down the next bad guy out there who wants us all dead. You're the safer place for her."

Jaina exhaled loudly and tossed the hydrospanner to the ground where it clattered across the floor in a weird wobble for a second before coming to a stop. "Why is it always our family? Why do _we_ have to be the ones in constant danger making other people's lives safe to live?"

"I wish I knew," Jacen said. He grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her into a hug. They squeezed each other as if it would be the last time, unsuccessfully fighting back tears.

"Please don't die on me," Jaina pleaded between sobs, her voice muffled against his shoulder. "Come home. Whatever you do, come home."

"You, too, sis," Jacen said. "Keep Mom safe."

They finally broke their hug and looked at each other for a few moments before Jacen smiled and backed away.

"I'll let you finish the pre-flight," Jacen said.

"Help me?" Jaina asked, her voice teeming with uncharacteristic vulnerability. "It's...umm... the first time I've ever flight-checked the _Falcon_ on my own."

Jacen smiled and put his right hand against the nearest section of armour plating on the old ship, looking at it as if it could conjure ghosts of the past. "Dad once said he'd never give me the codes to her."

"A good thing, too," Jaina joked. "You're the worst pilot in the family."

"Ouch," Jacen winced. "A worse pilot than my infant daughter. How did I sink so low?"

"Just make sure Uncle Luke does the flying on this mission," Jaina laughed and shook her head. "You've got a great ship. Don't beat her up."

"You, too, eh?" Jacen smiled back.

"You take the exhaust ports; I'll finish the landing struts."

"Gotcha," Jacen said. "Jaina?"

"Yeah?"

"He never said it, but I know Dad always wanted you to have the _Falcon_."

Jaina smiled and, too choked up to say anything, retrieved the hydrospanner from the ground with the Force and returned to her landing struts.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

A/N: Probably one of the hardest chapters I've had to write. I realize this is a really depressing way to start a new story, but there's a very good reason for it. Trust me.


	5. Discovery

Thanks Onimiman :)

Sioux: just a reminder that the Jedi Temple was built on Coruscant, blasted off into space in _Face of the Enemy_, and was refit by the Remnant in _Dawn of Chaos_. It has been on the run for a while and has finally settled on Zonoma Sekot for now. And I thought I was going a bit slow easing y'all in! Writing the memorial wasn't easy...that kind of stuff never is, so I appreciate that you felt some value in it.

Chapter 3: Discovery [[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The_ Solo Quest_ dropped out of hyperspace near the shattered moon of Kessel and looped around it on course to the Maw. Consisting of hundreds of black holes all in the same area of space, the Maw created plenty of gravetic and temporal anomalies to set off more alarms in Jacen Solo's head than lit up on the sensor suite behind him. Once housing the Empire's most top-secret research and development centre on a large asteroid facility deep behind a series of black holes, the Maw had remained empty for many years. Knowledge of the Maw base had become far too widespread for anyone to use it as a secret base anymore...unless they knew what Jacen knew. The last time Jacen had been this close to the Maw was approximately a hundred years in the future and he had his crack-pilot great-grandson flying. This time, he had most of his family with him. Anakin and Allaya were far too young to be of any help, and even if Tenel Ka was any bit a pilot, her mind was still fractured from the abuse she suffered during her kidnapping. Even though months had passed since her kidnapping and torture, she still woke up screaming in the middle of the night or curled into a ball crying at the slightest trigger. Even though he saw glimpses of the strong warrior underneath the psychological damage, such as when he told her about the mission to take out Krayt and she encouraged him to go, he worried that he would never again see the same Tenel Ka he married.

As the ship drew closer to the dark space of the Maw, Jacen reached out with the Force and let it guide him to the path leading to the old Imperial base. About twenty minutes later Jacen received a message through the Black Vornskr background radiation communication unit – a clever design of Lowbacca's to use variations of background cosmic radiation to communicate in locations where discretion was warranted. To any other sensor package it would look like the black holes were distorting the space around them. To this piece of equipment, affectionately called the BRCU, the radiation said "Transmit your authentication code."

Jacen removed his Black Vornskr Corusca gem ring from his finger and placed it in a spectral analysis unit on the BRCU. The ring glowed a faint purple for a second while it was scanned. A few moments later navigation instructions appeared, directing him to the landing bay on the old Imperial Maw Installation.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

A stout angry-looking older man with a giant grey moustache greeted Jacen and Luke at the bottom of the boarding ramp of the _Solo Quest_. Without preamble, Jacen raised his right fist and activated the small holographic image of the Black Vornskr crest embedded into the Corusca ring. The older man displayed his gold ring and activated it in turn.

"So you're the abnormality we discovered," the man said, his angry demeanour all but vanished at the sight of Jacen's ring. "May I ask who you are?"

Jacen looked around the hanger to think for a second. He took in the activity of the hanger bay around him with some measure of interest. He noticed that nearly every ship was a fighter or troop transport – small ships that were, at most, three quarters the width of the _Solo Quest_. Everything looked heavily armed. Or, illegally armed, in some cases. He recognized at least one of the unorthodox modifications on an X-wing – quad particle accelerators instead of blasters. If the Bogan fleet decided to attack this location, it was in for a hell of a battle.

"You know who I am, Colonel," Jacen replied elusively. Despite the outfit Jacen took from his Dad's things that made him look like a smuggler, and the goatee he started growing a couple days before, only two rings like his own existed. Any true member of the Black Vornskrs knew to fear the wearers of those rings, or at least treat them with respect. At the same time, Jacen did not want to make unreasonable demands. "I need to contact Eriana immediately."

"Please follow me."

Jacen and Luke followed the colonel, who identified himself as Surs Klek, through the hallways and listened to a long narrative about the defenses the Vornskrs had put into this location. Most of the Vornskrs on this base were copper rings, the lowest rank, and were unaware of any Jedi ties to their pirate organization. Any Jedi that Jacen recognized around the base, like Kyle Katarn and Jaden Korr, were wearing casual clothing, more fit for pirating than defending galactic justice, and were given other rings to help them blend in. They practically ignored him, and they were granted the same courtesy.

Luke and Jacen eventually arrived in the main operations room, a giant circular room protected by a solid grey durasteel supported duracrete dome. Six evenly spaced hallways were connected to the room like spokes on a wheel leading to various areas of the base as indicated by a name over the archway. An outer walkway inside the dome surrounded a ring of technicians at computer terminals. In line with the six doorways were six paths toward the central area of the Ops room which consisted of a large holographic display of the Maw and every asset and ship within sensor range. Colonel Klek led the way around the outer walkway and proceeded down one of the corridors labelled 'Command,' stopping only to whisper a command in the ear of one of the technician. Through the door they found themselves in a small conference room alone with the Colonel.

"Eriana warned me you might show up," Klek said. "We'll have to fix that ring of yours if you're going to stay among the Vornskrs. I'll get my technicians to make up a Bronze for you. Keep that chunk of rock hidden from the regulars. We're not a Jedi base here, and we don't want to spook the lower ranks. Just seeing it creeps _me_ out, and I know who you are."

"I need to talk to Eriana."

"Yes, you said that," Klek said with a hint of irritation in his voice. "I've put the call out. She's a very busy person. She might be a few minutes. This terminal will activate when she calls in. The call will be secure."

"Thanks," Jacen said and sat on the conference table. "One more thing – I want a full set. Copper, Silver, Bronze, Gold and Platinum for myself and two friends. Give me another couple other coppers and silvers too."

"What do you think we are, a jewelry store?" Klek snorted his disapproval. "We don't even have Platinum blanks. If I issued a Gold or Platinum, she'd have my head on a platter."

"Let me worry about Eriana," Jacen said, holding up his fist with the glittering ring on it. "You can consider that an order from your CO."

Klek disappeared and Jacen smiled to his uncle.

"She runs a tight ship," Luke remarked, crossing his arms over the blue mechanic's jumpsuit he decided to wear as a disguise. "The Vornskrs are loading up with some impressive weaponry. Not even the Rebel Alliance had access to the type of hardware they're packing."

"That's the benefit of being a pirate organization, I suppose," Jacen said. "Ideally we'd like to turn it into the basis of a rebellion, but the pirates aren't much of freedom fighters. If we can use it to fund and equip a rebellion without them knowing, that'll be good enough to start."

"And I thought we were through with rebellions," Luke said sadly. "We lost so..."

"Hey, guys," Eriana's voice came from the wall terminal interrupting Luke. "I hear you're looking for me."

"Hi Eriana," Jacen said somberly. "I have some bad news to report."

Her face hardened and she nodded. He suspected that she already knew at least half of his report.

"Dad had a stroke and...he didn't make it," Jacen reported with a heavy heart. He waited for Eriana to absorb the news, but continued before she could say anything. "And the entire Hapes cluster has been destroyed too. I barely got out with Tenel Ka and the kids. I need somewhere safe for them, and I know the Maw base is safer than anywhere right now."

"Absolutely," Eriana said, her moment of shock passed. "I heard about Hapes. I'm glad you made it out with the family. I'll make arrangements for them in our most comfortable quarters. Will you be joining them?"

"No," Jacen said. "I need you to join _us_."

Eriana sighed and looked to her left at something off screen. Her eyes settled on Luke after she read something for a couple heartbeats. "You're going after Krayt."

"He needs to be stopped," Luke said. "If we're going to hit him, we may as well hit him hard with our best fighters."

"The team will be us, Mara, Kyp and Octa," Jacen continued. "I don't think anyone else has a chance of surviving. Kyp and Octa are gathering intel on Krayt and will join us when we have a plan."

"They won't find much," Eriana cautioned. "I've been scouring everything I can to find stuff on him. However, Karrde sent me a report this morning placing one Darth Krayt on his personal _Obsidian_-class destroyer en route to Telos. That's what they're calling the giant double parallelogram ships that destroy everything in their path. The Telosians are putting up a hell of a defense and they're expected to hold out for quite some time, so Krayt seems to want to lead his troops into battle himself. I should be able to sneak us onto Telos through the Vornskr network, but we'll need some way of getting onto his ship when it arrives. His ship left Coruscant yesterday, so we need to leave today to beat him there."

"I've asked Klek to issue me some extra Vornskr rings to help us blend in among the lower ranks of the Vornskrs without rousing suspicion."

"Good call," Eriana replied. "I think I'll do the same, but don't bother with the Platinum. There are only six of them and any more would create suspicion unless you're planning on showing up somewhere with an entire fleet."

"Good point," Jacen conceded. "When can we come over?"

"Any time," she said and turned to the Grand Master. "Luke, whatever you do, don't let him fly. The gauntlet makes the rest of the Maw look like a walk in the park."

Luke chuckled, but said nothing.

"It's not a joke," Eriana warned him. "I don't even fly it. How is Tenel Ka doing? Any better?"

Jacen just looked at her with sad eyes and sighed. "She has her moments."

"She's strong," Eriana reminded him. "She'll pull through. It'll just take time. Don't worry, there's nowhere safer than here."

Jacen nodded and, to Eriana, looked uncharacteristically weak and confused.

"We should, um, go find Klek and collect the rings," Jacen said. "Thank you. For everything."

"What are friends for?" Eriana asked. "Tell Klek to give you a larcy module, too."

"I will. See you soon."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The _Millennium Falcon_ gracefully slipped through the atmosphere of Csilla under the command of her new pilot, descending toward the coordinates provided by the air traffic controller. Jaina's journey to the Chiss homeworld involved many stops and searches by the notoriously thorough and precise Chiss border patrols. As instructed by Luke and Jacen, and constantly reminded by Danni, Jaina made sure to clearly state her intention to speak with the office of the Chiss Expansionary Defence Force intelligence division as a representative of the Jedi Council without dropping any names. Each ship captain and commander she encountered accepted her credentials and sent her along. Even though she knew they had called ahead to forewarn the next commander of their arrival, she was treated as indifferently as the first time the _Falcon_ was searched.

As the _Falcon_ neared the designated coordinates on the surface of Csilla, a pair of large doors hidden under the snow levered open to provide a safe berth out of the elements. Jaina gently eased the _Falcon_ into the berth, half expecting to hear the gut-wrenching sound of metal scraping as she landed her father's ship for the first time it was hers. The _Falcon_ settled onto the ground as if it was landing on a pillow, and Jaina finally exhaled the breath she did not realize she was holding.

"Are you going to do that every time you land the ship?" Erinn asked tentatively, still not sure how much she could joke around with her master. At seventeen years old, and having only been among the Jedi for a year, Erinn was still learning protocol that other Jedi her age were exposed to from a much earlier age. Her introverted nature often kept her apart from other Jedi students on the few occasions she had met them, and all of her training was being done by Jaina.

"I'm used to X-wings," Jaina protested, oblivious to Erinn's apprehension as she quickly ran through the shutdown procedure. "The _Falcon_'s a lot bigger."

The roof closed over the old YT-1300, casting the hanger bay into darkness until lights on the doors triggered on and illuminated the underground hanger with a soft blue glow. Two figures appeared at the entrance to tunnel at the corner of the hanger bay as Jaina finished powering the ship down, each in cold weather gear not too dissimilar to the outfits that she saw of her parents in from holos of when they were on the rebel base on Hoth. She grabbed her new LinkCom communicator from the charger on the dash, noted that the Chiss home world surprisingly had reception, and stuffed it into her pocket.

"How do you like the LinkCom?" Erinn asked. "That's the new one from Synergy Technology out in the corporate sector, right?"

"Yeah, it's nice," Jaina said as they exited the cockpit. "You can access the holonet almost anywhere. I don't know why they didn't think of it years ago. A graphical touch display to access data, having voice and written messages sent do your hand, a holoprojector to make calls, local maps that can tell you where you are, _and_ you can play games on it. It even has a holocam on it. It's brilliant. Uncle Luke and Aunt Mara got them when they saw mine. Jacen said he didn't want one. He said the data plan costs too much. He can be a real tightwad at times."

Jaina and Erinn found Ben, Danni, Leia, Lowbacca and Threepio waiting for them by the boarding ramp, and Leia held out two heavy jackets similar to the one she and Ben were already wearing.

"You'll want these," Leia said. Danni was wearing a heavy sweater with the letters CU embroidered on the front, and Lowie looked comfortable in his own fur and his syren belt. Erinn and Jaina took the jackets and put them on without question. When Jaina finally hit the button to lower the boarding ramp, a cold blast of air rushed in and seemed to cut its way directly to her bones despite the added insulation.

"Danni and I will go first," Jaina suggested, barely suppressing a shiver. They marched down the ramp together followed by Erinn and Leia, and finally Ben, Lowie, and 3PO brought up the rear. The two Chiss that Jaina had noted earlier were waiting for them a few metres from the bottom of the ramp. Their red eyes glowed under their hoods which otherwise hid their faces from view.

"I'm Jedi Master Jaina Solo representing the Jedi Council on a diplomatic mission," Jaina stated, even knowing that they likely knew why she was there. "We'd like to speak to Director of Fleet Intelligence."

"The Director has been notified of your approach. Please follow us," one of the Chiss said curtly and started back toward the tunnel. Jaina glanced back to see her mom activate the _Falcon's_ security system and the ramp start to close before setting after the two Chiss.

The tunnel itself flickered to life as soon as the party entered it. Immediately warmer inside, the Chiss removed their hoods and the Jedi unzipped their jackets. Force fields flickered on and off, following them as they walked through the tunnel, preserving the heat around them as they walked through the smooth tunnel bored through the ice centuries ago. The walls soaked in the blue lighting, giving the ice the reflective appearance of polished glass and allowing Jaina to see a ghostly image of herself staring back at her from inside the dark ice.

"So how soon can we see the Director of Fleet Intelligence?" Jaina asked as an uncomfortable silence stretched between them.

"When the Director is ready."

Exchanging glances with her mom, Jaina and Leia shrugged at the same time and made an unspoken agreement to not ask any more questions. Several minutes of walking in silence brought the party to a large underground dome that stretched up well over a hundred metres above their heads. Completely invisible to the outside world, the Chiss engineering marvel spanned over the incredible collection of beautiful cylindrical buildings towering above them, each one looking like a giant ice stalagmite stretching from the ground all the way to the dome that protected them from the frozen conditions of the planet above. Between the buildings flew many hovercars, skittering about their daily routines in neat orderly lines while people walked between the buildings.

"Here," one of the Chiss barked impatiently at the Jedi who were gawking at the city like stunned tourists. He pointed to a hovercar parked nearby and the group piled in. They all stared out the windows as they sailed between the tall buildings, marvelling at the simplistic beauty of the construction before them while Threepio inundated the silence with his fears about flying and questions about the structural soundness of the dome.

Before they knew it, the hovercar was landing in a docking bay about half way up one of the large bleak buildings and they were being ushered out of the hovercar.

"Three of you may go," one of the escorts said in a no-nonsense voice. "The rest must remain here."

"Can we bring the droid?" Jaina asked, gesturing to Threepio.

"'The droid?'" Threepio asked with an indignant tone. "Mistress Jaina, I protest your reference to me..."

"Only if he's quiet," the escort said, silencing Threepio.

Ben and I will stay here, Lowie offered.

"I'll stay," Danni said. "You guys go have fun."

Jaina shot her a look of annoyance – they all knew how "fun" the Chiss could be – and turned on her heel to follow their escorts.

They travelled through the hallways, all of which looked the same to Jaina as they trotted along. White doors and walls were accented with black tiled floors and door frames, each door evenly spaced down the length of the hallways that either curved to follow the shape of the large cylindrical building or ran straight like spokes on a wheel. The white doors were all adorned with the Chiss Fleet Intelligence logo and a title, but no names appeared on any of the doors.

At a door not unlike any other they had passed, the Chiss escorts stopped and stood on either side of it, silently taking up their positions without a word. Jaina translated the words "Director of Fleet Intelligence" on the door from her rudimentary knowledge of Cheunh and looked for a way to open it. Before she could ask, the door smoothly slid sideways, revealing the Director standing at the door.

"Hello, Jedi Knight Jaina Solo," Jagged Fel said. "What brings you to Csilla?"

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Klek escorted Jacen and Luke to the ring technician personally and gave her the order to issue one of each rank they had available to them. She was a cute, innocent-looking young human girl, maybe fifteen years old, but she knew her way through the computer system with deft ease and had all the rings prepared within ten minutes. Jacen felt a little bad about performing a memory rub on her to forget their interaction, but her black silver ring meant that she did not have the clearance to know anyone was authorized to have more than one rank amongst the Vornskrs. As they exited the technician's room he replaced the Corusca gem ring with the silver ring that denoted him as a Captain and told his uncle to put a bronze Major ring on. Together they found their way back to the _Solo Quest, _mostly by locking onto Mara and Tenel Ka's presences and homing in on them. The promised larcy module was waiting for him and, after loading it, they departed for Eriana's secondary base.

Heeding Eriana's advice, Jacen allowed his uncle to pilot the _Solo Quest_ through the gauntlet of tight black holes. The tense five minute journey at top speed ended with the _Quest_ bursting into a spiralled collection of fifteen thousand high-power turbolasers mounted together in a cylinder of potential destruction. Having transmitted the proper code, the turbolasers rested in standby mode and allowed the _Quest_ to pass. Coming out of the tunnel of turrets, the large asteroid with the hidden _Black Vornskr_ base came into view.

"It's impressive that they built all this using small ships to bring the parts in," Luke remarked. "No capital ship could ever get in here."

"The one place that Krayt's minions will never be able to touch," Jacen said. "Only Eriana's most trusted people even know about this location. Lowie told me that he and Ben put half this facility together themselves."

"The things your kids do when you aren't looking," Luke commented.

"Could be worse," Jacen said. "He could be doing deathsticks. Building secret bases in the war effort to usurp a Sith Lord seems a bit more...honourable."

Luke just rolled his eyes.

"Landing instructions are coming in," Jacen said and pointed at one spot on the asteroid. "Port seven. It's the one blinking yellow right there."

"Got it," Luke said and changed the ship's course. "It looks like they only have standard connection tubes for debarkation."

"Gravity interchanges would require a different setup," Jacen said. "It's a bit tricky going from ship to base, but easy enough if you know what to expect."

"I thought you hadn't been here before," Luke said curiously. He finally docked the ship against the designated port and activated the latching mechanisms.

"I went to a similar location not too long ago," Jacen said, avoiding the full truth of his time travel. "Basically the same setup. Bigger than this one."

Luke put the engines into standby and powered down most of the nonessential systems while Jacen went to the airlock and finalized the pressure equalization. When the pressure indication light changed from red to green he opened the hatch. At the same time, the docking tube hatch opened, blasting Jacen with cool, fresh air. He hopped from the deck toward the tube, easily adjusting his fall to land on his feet with the change in gravity. Eriana was waiting for him alone. She stepped forward and embraced him.

"I'm sorry about your dad," she whispered.

"Thanks," Jacen whispered back and released her. "Is everything ready for Tenel Ka?"

"Yeah, but we don't have much here in terms of luxury," Eriana admitted. "The biggest luxuries we have are a good air purifier, lots of turbolaser turrets, and a crack doctor."

"We'll take it," Jacen said. "Can you get away for a couple weeks?"

"The admirals can take care of things while I'm gone," Eriana said. "Don't worry, we're all anxious to see Krayt buried."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"Jag?" Jaina blurted, all thoughts of their mission forgotten at the sight of the tall handsome man who had flown on her wing during the Yuuzhan Vong war. She blushed when her mind immediately rushed to the last time she had heard him use her full formal title - a _very_ informal celebration that had taken place in her bunk aboard Admiral Kef'rey's command ship right after the end of the war. "You're the Director of Fleet Intelligence?"

"This isn't a good time for stupid questions," Jag said loftily, ignoring her embarrassment. "Garkin, Horcha, please find our guests accommodations in the diplomatic suites at the _Bsetahah K'un'cin'i._ I'll visit when I'm free."

"Yes, sir," one of the escorts said - Jaina could not tell if it was Garken or Horcha – and the door slammed shut in Jaina's face.

"But..." Jaina sputtered, barely noticing that Leia had taken her hand and was pulling her along the hallway following one of their escorts. It took until they were half way to their ride that Jaina recovered the ability to speak.

"How could he do that to us?" Jaina finally asked.

"It was a pretty high level meeting we were interrupting," Leia said as quietly as she could, even though she knew their escorts were monitoring every word. "He'll come to us when he's ready."

"I think a better question is," Erinn smirked. "How could you have slept with that guy? He's colder than Hoth."

Jaina whipped around and looked at her apprentice with horrified anger, startling Erinn, but Leia's unsuccessful attempt to hide a laugh behind her left hand caught Jaina off guard. She turned to snap at her mom, but she noticed that the two escorts were also laughing at her expense, finally having broken their stoic fascias. Only Threepio's look of ever-puzzlement saved Jaina a shred of her dignity.

"He's not that bad," Jaina snapped, her face turning bright red. She turned around and marched past the escort, deciding to lead the way back to the hanger as quickly as possible.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-


	6. Information

Chapter 3 - Discovery [[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Telos IV, often referred to the Coruscant of the outer rim, was another planet with a city covering almost the entire surface. Unlike Coruscant, Telos still retained large forests and plains, and even the frozen polar caps. Being an ancient planet, and a relatively rich one by galactic standards, the cities of Telos enjoyed some of the best planetary shielding the Republic had to offer, including many overlapping Nyalsan X platforms. Despite the superlaser-equipped Bogan _Obsidian_-class Destroyer and a fleet of Imperial Star Destroyers constantly barraging the planetary defences, Telos's shields remained resolute in defending the vast cities.

The shields, despite their strength, were not without variance. Several holes existed between the overlaps in the shield grids and skilled pilots with knowledge of the overlaps could slip through the gaps. With pilots so skilled, the Black Vornskrs had fed supplies to the starving rebellion to prepare them for the eventual planetary assault of Darth Krayt's forces. While most shipments included weapons, medical supplies, and defensive materials, one particular shipment included three Jedi Masters, a former Jensaarai Defender and two droids.

Dressed in civilian clothes and, for everyone except Eriana, disguises, the Jedi departed their shuttle with R2-D2 and HK-47 in tow following the Telosian Black Vornskr pilot. They took his direction to connect to the local Telosian resistance cell and how to identify themselves before parting company.

They piled into an Argath line tram at the spaceport stop and travelled along it for ten minutes in silence until they reached GlazGra station, a little used station on the outskirts of town. On the cue of the doors opening, Jacen and Eriana took HK-47 and led the way out of the station, heading north while Luke and Mara followed R2-D2 east out of the station.

With the attack looming overhead, the residential area they found themselves in was practically deserted. On their way to the designated warehouse on the outskirts of the area, Eriana and Jacen passed several groups of what they figured were street gangs based on their angry looks of defiance. Most of them sized up the outsiders with a passing level of interest as if trying to determine whether any value could be had from attacking, but some well placed mind tricks reaffirming the worthlessness of the outsiders kept the Jedi safe from attack. About a kilometre from their destination, they happened upon a small gang led by a human and a Devaronian, and Eriana grabbed Jacen's arm.

"What is it?" Jacen asked.

"Do you recognize them?" Eriana asked, a mischievous glint in her eye. "Those guys, right there."

"Do you know them?"

"What happened the last time we were on Telos?"

Jacen glanced at the human again, this time taking a good look at the glittering false teeth in the mouth of the human leading the group. If what Eriana was trying to tell him was right, those false teeth were replacing some that had been removed by her elbow.

"No," Jacen said. "You've _got_ to be kidding. Those are the same guys that jumped you?"

"Looks like they're building their business interests," Eriana said. "More goons to scare."

"We can't," Jacen grabbed her hand. "We have to minimize how many people know we're here."

"Alright," Eriana said reluctantly and resumed their walk. "But avoiding breaking up street gangs will be addressed in your quarterly performance report."

About fifteen minutes later they arrived at the warehouse and walked up to the entrance, per the plan. Jacen knocked on the door three times and stepped back, his mind caressing the lightsaber hidden in his jacket should he need to use it.

"Friendship is never lost," an expectant voice stated from behind the door.

"It is only thrown away," Jacen completed the quote from one of his favourite novels.

The door opened to reveal a dark room. Within the darkness Jacen could sense about forty beings hiding, and he could feel the aim of at least a dozen blasters crawling across his skin.

"Warning: I sense many sentients in the darkness," HK-47 said. "Prepare for combat."

"We are the leaders of the Black Vornskrs," Jacen said, ignoring his droid. "Put your weapons away and turn on the lights."

The tension in the air increased and there was stirring from the hidden people.

"You are in no position to negotiate, so-called leaders of the Black Vornskrs," a gruff woman's voice responded. "Prove your identity."

Jacen and Eriana raised their right hands and activated their identical Corusca rings, amplifying the light of the projected logo to illuminate the room. Most of the sentients covered their eyes to avoid the brightness, and a few seconds later someone turned the lights on. Jacen identified many humans, eight Gands, an Ithorian, fourteen Rodians, and a Wookiee. A human woman approached them with a sense of authority, leaving little question of who was in charge.

"My apologies for the theatrics," she said, holding out a hand. Jacen noted the gold ring on her hand, but neither of them accepted it. "Tonya Kor'va."

"Identify yourself properly," Eriana ordered. Tonya complied, and the Black Vornskr logo flashed briefly on her ring.

"Good," Jacen said, finally shaking her hand. As Eriana shook Tonya's hand, Jacen sent a telepathic pulse to his uncle to let them know it was safe. "We have two more operatives that will join us presently."

At that moment the door opened to reveal the two Jedi Masters and R2-D2, and all six of them followed Tonya to a quiet corner of the facility where they found Kyp and Octa sitting side-by-side on an old wooden crate. Four of Tonya's silver-ringed operatives followed them and took seats on some more of the dusty old wooden crates set up in a semi-circular pattern around a larger crate that was acting as a makeshift table. Tonya activated an old lantern hanging a metre and a half above the table with a remote control from her pocket and gestured for the new arrivals to take a seat on the unoccupied crates. HK-47 and Artoo rested off to the side, sensors alert to maintain the privacy of the meeting while each taking their own recording as ordered before they had left the ship. Tonya herself remained standing, leaning on the table with both palms flat on the table. The lantern light cast shadows on her face that made her appear grim and angry, but Jacen sensed only determination and a bit of annoyance radiating from her.

"Very little of your mission has been explained to us by your friends here," Tonya said, gesturing to Kyp and Octa. "If I'm going to be putting my people into danger, I need details."

"Our plan is to have a section of the shielding dropped," Eriana said. "Preferably somewhere that won't risk too much collateral damage but is close enough to something juicy so they land troops. We'll coordinate the efforts of the defence force covertly to bring a heavy assault onto the ground troops, but we need them to escape."

Looks of confusion were shared between Tonya and her four captains.

"I thought we would want to wipe out the enemy," Tonya said.

"No," Luke replied. "Your goal will be to protect Telos. Our goal is to get onto their command ship."

"After we take out Krayt, we'll blow it up and jump ship," Eriana continued. "You and your people will forget we were ever here."

"Why would the leaders of the Black Vornskrs be leading a mission onto a Bogan command ship?" Tonya asked. "You've got to be crazier than the Jedi."

"Our information suggests the Jedi are all gone," Jacen said. "And the less you know the better off we'll all be. Plausible deniability, I believe they call it. Now, you have your orders – plan the ambush and forget about us."

"Then we should find the best place for an ambush," Tonya said. She pulled the remote from her pocket and pressed another button, activating a second mode on the lantern that spread a holographic map of Telos over the table. "Anything in mind?"

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

While Jaina had locked herself in her room as soon as they arrived at the hotel, and Lowbacca worked on some Force exercises with Ben in their room, Leia and Erinn brought Danni up on the events at Jag's office over a pot of tea in the relatively ornate sitting area of the suite. Taking up almost half the floor of the hotel, the suite they were put in offered plenty of room and beautiful old-fashioned furniture that seemed both out of place and appropriate in the traditional Chiss society.

"You shouldn't have said that," Leia said to Erinn. "Jaina's always had a soft spot for Jag."

"I tend to talk before thinking," Erinn admitted, blushing and looking down into her tea cup in the disarming way only an embarrassed seventeen year old girl could. "I guess I'm not really cut out as a Jedi."

"Nonsense," Danni said with a warm smile. "You're still twice the Jedi I'll ever be. And you have to admit, that was pretty damn funny."

Danni's comment earned her a scolding look from Leia that did not have any effect on her target. Danni merely took another sip of her tea and winked at Erinn.

"You knew it was Jag," Leia accused Danni. "You never told us."

"Nobody asked," Danni admitted without a hint of remorse, setting the tea cup back on its saucer on the table in front of her. "Nobody seems to pay much attention to me, anyway."

"What do you mean?"

Danni looked up at Leia's concerned face with a flicker of annoyance. "You really don't know, do you?"

The blank stare she got answered her question.

"When the war ended, where was I left? On Zonoma Sekot. The place the Jedi Order left the misfits who weren't good enough to be Jedi Knights to explore what they didn't need to know. They pushed me out of the Order on the guise of a _wonderful_ research opportunity promising the chance to get in on groundbreaking new studies. And after almost ten years there...what? _Nothing_.

"No Jedi Masters to teach us the ways of the Force. Nobody has used anything that we learned about Vong biotech for _anything_ except for Lowbacca's plasma weapon and Lando's failed suit experiment. None of the medicine or bio implants or cloning technologies or anything! We learned ways to create perfect replicas of human body parts that would replace mechanical prosthetics and _nobody cared_. We could have made the Jedi a fortune with the technology we developed so they could fund a thousand wars against the Bogans, and they didn't even look at the reports of what we were doing there. We could have been inciting a rebellion for all they knew. I left Zonoma Sekot for at least one week a month to come to Csilla and _nobody noticed!_ One time I was gone for six whole months and didn't get a single message from the Jedi Order about missed progress reports. Pellaeon was the only person that seemed to remember that I was his friend and would drop me messages to see how I was doing."

Danni sipped her tea and took a moment to collect her thoughts as the two other women sat there in stunned silence at her rant.

"I'm sorry," Danni said miserably. "I shouldn't be taking this out on you."

"Why didn't you request a transfer?" Leia asked. "Or someone to train you?"

"Because," Danni's green eyes trailed to the door. "It gave me the latitude for me to keep coming here."

"But..." Leia's thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door and a look of comprehension came across her face as Danni shot up and crossed the ornate room to activate the door release. Jag appeared at the door, smiling briefly at Danni before walking further in to greet Leia.

"Ambassador Solo, I was sorry to hear about the loss of your husband," Jag said stiffly, yet still managed to convey his empathy. "Han was a great man, a true inspiration to us all."

"Thank you," Leia said, trying to maintain her composure with the still-fresh loss weighing on her heart. "Jag, we need your help."

Jaina chose that moment to reappear. The look on her face told Jag that she was not yet ready to forgive him for his earlier rudeness, but was willing to get some answers from him.

"I surmised as much," Jag said. "I'm surprised the Jedi sent such a large contingent. First, I want to apologize for my earlier behaviour. I had a visitor in my office who wished to remain anonymous. What can I do for you?"

"Where's Wedge?" Jaina snapped, a bit harsher than she had intended.

"Wedge escaped with a sizeable fleet to avoid Krayt's new ships," Danni explained in a much softer tone. "We've been trying to find him to coordinate our efforts against Krayt. We figured he went into the unknown regions."

"How big a fleet do you think he took?"

"About eight thousand capital ships," Leia said. "Plus support craft."

"Then it's highly unlikely he's out here," Jag said, taking a seat in the middle of the couch that Danni had been laying on a minute earlier and she sat down beside him. A pensive furrow crossed his brow as he thought about the reports that had crossed his desk. "We would've noticed a fleet that big travelling through Chiss space, but we do only have about seventy percent of the region under our control or observation. The other thirty is unmonitored by us."

"So he could still be out here," Jaina concluded.

"It is _possible_, but doubt it," Jag said, looking up at her. "Chiss space wanders quite erratically based on systems that are of interest, and that is constantly fluctuating. Unless Wedge had accurate star maps of Chiss space, or he took out the Ssi-Ruuk without our knowledge – which he hasn't, based on the report I read an hour ago – I don't think even he could move a fleet through the unknown regions without us noticing."

"Krayt is suspected to have a shipyard in the Unknown Regions," Danni said. "He got a small fleet of massive ships out from under your noses."

"Eight ships would be a lot easier to sneak past our patrols compared to eight _thousand_," Jag said rather gently.

Jag stood up suddenly and took two steps toward the door before turning around. "I'm sorry I can't be more help, but I'd like to invite you for dinner tonight."

"You've saved us a lot of work," Leia said gratefully as she stood up. "We'd be honoured to join you."

With a quick nod, Jag disappeared and left the four women alone.

"Anyone get the sense he's hiding something?" Jaina asked with ample sarcasm before disappearing back to her room.

Danni picked up her tea cup again, trying to ignore a penetrating glare from Leia_._

"He _is_ kinda cute once you get to know him," Erinn finally said, still looking at the door. She looked back at Danni and shrugged. "I'd do him."

"Let's not go there," Danni said, hiding her smile behind her tea cup as she took a sip.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

With frightening efficiency, mere seconds after power was transferred away from the shield emitters across the Rothac plains, drop ships spewed out of Darth Krayt's massive black ship hovering above in orbit. Several dozen of the miniature versions of the giant double-parallelogram ships streamed through the atmosphere at full throttle and landed in the valley forming a giant ring, noses pointed outward, to create a defensive parameter. The ships combined their shield power to establish a defensive barrier and cement their foothold. On cue, members of the Telos resistance launched their attack on the defensive ring using hidden squadrons of X-wings and B-wings to harass the invading troop transports and cover a ground assault of a hundred previously hidden heavy tanks.

The fleet of drop ships lifted off the ground in unison and travelled in formation, slowly moving across the ground toward the approaching Telosian tanks while shrugging off the offending laser fire from the starfighters with their powerful shields. Once in range, the tanks opened fire, unleashing their heavy artillery and battering the ships in an impressive display of explosions that forced the drop ships to land and refocus their engine power into their shields and weapons.

"They're in position," Jacen said, staring at the small datapad in his hand. "Frankly, I don't know how we haven't been blown up or detected yet."

"The Telosians seem to know their stuff," Mara said approvingly. "Ready?"

"As we'll ever be," Jacen said. He shut off the datapad, put it on a crate beside him and looked around the reinforced duracrete bunker at the other occupants. Like himself, Mara, Luke, Kyp, Octa and Eriana were wearing the modified armoured Jedi combat uniforms designed to protect without restricting their movement and look like the ground trooper uniforms of the Bogan soldiers. The explosions shook the ground around them, but their faces wore identical looks of resolve as they put their helmets on and picked up their blaster rifles. A quick nod from everyone and Jacen looked to Mara. "Detonate."

"Fire in the hole," Mara said quietly and pressed the button on the console beside her.

If the explosions from the heavy artillery shook the bunker, Mara's explosives made the occupants feel like beads in a toddler's rattler. Loud explosions echoed above, mostly blocked by the protective helmets, and when the first round stopped Luke and Kyp pushed the heavy durasteel top off the bunker with the Force and the Jedi jumped to the ground, blasters at the ready.

The remains of over a dozen drop ships surrounded the bunker, cries of agony emanating from the twisted black hulls that were ravaged by the explosives that had been planted around the hidden bunker. Together the Jedi raced toward one of the ships that were less damaged and extracted some of the solders that were screaming in agony. While most of them had been nearly obliterated by the explosions, they found two that were only missing legs and one missing an arm. Jacen, Luke and Kyp picked up the injured soldiers, leaving Mara to squeeze a button built into the butt end of her blaster rifle. Another explosion sent up a ball of fire, demolishing all evidence of their bunker, and they ran toward the nearest intact drop ship. Eriana and Octa waved their arms for attention and the group raced toward the lowering ramp. They piled into the cramped drop ship as the ramp closed up and felt the ship twist in the air and accelerate toward the sky. Luke, Jacen and Kyp surrendered their injured soldiers to the ship medic and they all found any spot they could to hold onto as the ship bounced its way out of the Telosian atmosphere. Jacen looked at his fellow Jedi and knew, behind their dark masks, they were all thinking the same thing: As long as the X-wings and B-wings called off pursuit, the first part of the mission went off without a hitch.


	7. Descent

Sioux - Nailed it ;) Yeah, it's like Apple came to the SW universe. They really need a device like that. Wait till you see what I have her do with it in chapter 13 ;) Danni's sweater is fixed - I couldn't remember how to put it. The ships came from when the Jedi Order split from the GA back in Dawn of Chaos. Wedge took a third of the fleet and defected, the rest stayed with Soora.

Onimi - wait till you see the next two :)

A/N: on Onimi's suggestion, I've reordered the chapter a bit. It does read better this way. Thanks Onimi :)

Chapter 5 - Descent [[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Jaina's miserable mood continued well into the evening as they arrived at the Fel residence, a beautiful short building on its own near the edges of the dome. As was explained by the uncharacteristically chatty driver that picked them up in a hovercar, the houses on the outskirts were reserved for the most prominent members of Chiss society, like Baron Soontir Fel. The second the party of Jedi stepped into the front hall, Jaina understood why. Large portraits of members of the Fel family hung on the white walls of the cavernous circular entrance way that reached up to the top of the house. The ceiling showed what Jaina suspected would be the star patterns high above them glittering high above. Two red-carpeted stairwells hugged the curved walls meeting at a landing at the second floor with an ornate golden handrail accenting the regal colours of the room. And here Jaina was surrounded by the ostentatious environment in her least-worn Jedi robes with a Wookiee, her mom, two teenagers, and a blonde astrophysicist in a University of Commenor hoodie as her dates.

"Danni!" a shout resounded from the top of the stairs and a streak of blond hair came rushing down to tackle-hug the scientist. They both laughed as Danni almost fell backwards against the door and steadied herself against the hug. "Jag didn't even tell us you were coming!"

Jaina looked at the girl, who was probably about twenty five, with a mixture of annoyance and confusion. How did _Danni_ get that kind of greeting from Jag's sister?

"I wanted it to be a surprise, Wyn," Jag said, appearing from another room to the right with a grin from ear to ear. Wearing his formal military uniform, aside from the stripe of grey hair over his eye, he looked every bit the perfect military man Jaina remembered from the war. "Everyone, this is my sister Wynssa. Wyn, our guests are Jedi Masters Leia Organa and Jaina Solo, Jedi Master Lowbacca, and Jedi Apprentices Erinn Sorinn and Ben Skywalker. Everyone, welcome to the Fel Residence. Please come this way."

Jag led them through two large ornate ostentatiously decorated sitting rooms, apologizing for the absence of his parents while Wyn chattered with Danni about her flying lessons and the challenges of learning to become a medvac pilot.

Jag finally opened another ornate double door so tall that Jaina could have stood on Lowie's shoulders and not reached the top of the frame, and gestured for them to enter.

"Please have a seat and the food will be right out. I'd also like to introduce our other guest of honour..."

"Prince Isolder," Leia smiled warmly as the Hapan Prince came into view and stood up, surprising Jaina and the other Jedi. "I thought I sensed your presence in Jag's office."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Despite a five course meal and being surrounded by friends and family, Jaina had a hard time ditching her foul mood. Leia and Lowbacca easily kept Isolder company sitting on either side of him at one end of the table to discuss the potential of recovery of the Hapan people, with Threepio translating Shyriiwook for Isolder. Jag sat at the other head of the table opposite Isolder, with Danni on his left chatting with him and Wynssa about her research and their current assignments like she was a member of the family. Ben and Erinn talked awkwardly between each other at the middle of the table, both feeling somewhat left out but with nobody else near their age to talk to. Despite sitting in a room full of friends and family having a great time together, and sitting beside Jag, Jaina could not help but feel out of place.

_This is Jag,_ Jaina chided herself. _Sure you haven't seen him in years, but just_ _say something._

"So, Jag," Jaina finally said around a mouthful of her dessert. "You're no longer in the cockpit."

"I wanted something a bit more ground based," Jag admitted, swirling the dessert wine around his glass. "I still teach a hands-on class on starfighter battle tactics twice a week. After the war the government decided to keep some of the better skilled pilots closer to home to pass on knowledge."

"Makes sense," Jaina said. "But you still know I can fly circles around you."

"Sure," Jag said evasively, taking a sip of his wine instead of her bait.

"Are you still interested in me?" Jaina asked and Jag coughed, almost spraying his wine across the table and bringing everyone's attention to the two of them.

"What? You don't know?" Wyn demanded, oblivious to the panicked wide-eyed look she was getting from Danni. A horrible shock went through Jaina's system as the truth hit her a second before Wyn could say it. "He's engaged to Danni!"

Jaina looked around the room and saw Erinn and Ben's jaws wide open, Leia with a grim smile, Wyn looking like a kid on lifeday staring at a package of presents, and mirrored looks of embarrassed guilt on Danni and Jag's faces. Isolder alone looked completely impassive, and Lowie uttered something about the male offspring of a female canine that quite accurately covered Jaina's thoughts.

"Jaina," both Danni and Jag tried saying at the same time, but Jaina stood up suddenly, her chair screeching across the wooden floor. Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked at them with a mixture of despair and pain as her bottom lip trembled.

"Y-You knew he was the one we were looking for, and you didn't even bother to tell us? We could've done this over a holonet call, but we came all this way because you wanted to see your _boytoy_?" Jaina demanded of Danni. She then turned to Jag. "And you didn't think _I'd_ want to know about this? Did I mean _nothing_ to you?"

Jaina ran out of the dining room and before she reached the icy outdoors tears were already streaming down her face.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Leia found the crying, shivering mess of her daughter sitting on the front steps of the Fel house and gently placed a warm coat around her shoulders. Jaina barely seemed to notice, but did not object when Leia sat down beside her, taking Jaina's left hand in both of hers.

"You knew," Jaina accused between sobs, balling her hand into a fist.

"I suspected," Leia admitted. "But not until Jag visited us at the hotel today."

"I made an idiot of myself," Jaina sniffed, wiping her right eye with the back of her hand.

"Jaina, you haven't seen Jag in years," Leia said as gently as she could, knowing full well it was not what Jaina wanted to hear. "You're thirty two years old, and he's thirty four. Did you really expect him to wait for you forever?"

Jaina pulled her hand free and tugged the jacket around her tighter, as if the fluffy warm material could protect her from admitting the miserable truth they both knew she knew. She was so much like her father, right down to her fear of commitment.

"I know you don't hate them," Leia continued. "Danni had her reasons for not telling us."

"She could've saved us valuable time…"

"Yes, she could have," Leia admitted. "But she knew she would've put Jag in a very difficult spot. In Chiss society, giving out information improperly is considered treason. She kept the truth from us to protect him. And protect us. If he did send us information and the government discovered it, they would sever ties with the Jedi and execute him. We can't lose what shaky friendship we have with the Chiss at this time. Our allies are too few and far between right now."

Jaina wiped more tears, this time from both eyes, and sniffed her nose, but remained silent. She stared into the distance at the glowing lights on the hovercars speeding through the tall towers of the underground city with her mind caught somewhere between blank nothingness and jumbled thoughts about Jag, her friends laughing at her, her dad, needing to check the port power couplings in the _Falcon_, Danni betraying her, and some stray thoughts about how to improve energy efficiency in her lightsaber.

"We've all lost people we care about," Leia said, wiping a tear of her own from her cheek. "We should be grateful for the ones we still have with us."

Leia put her arms around Jaina and squeezed her gently before retreating back into the house. While lost in her thoughts staring at the lights in the distance, Jaina barely noticed when Jag sat down beside her and they both waited in silence. About five minutes passed where they sat watching the lights, each wondering what the other was going to say.

"I don't blame you," Jaina finally broke the silence. "I just wish you told me. Then I wouldn't…you know…"

"Keep hoping?" Jag finished. "Yeah, but I figured after you didn't call for five years…"

"Fair enough," Jaina said. "But, Danni?"

Jag laughed softly. "I didn't even see it coming. Neither of us did. After the war she kept visiting Wyn every month or so. They were closer friends than I had realized. She became like an older sister in the family. And one time she came by when Wyn wasn't around, but I was free that night and…"

Jaina smacked his arm and glared at him with a look that could melt durasteel.

"Nothing like that!" Jag exclaimed innocently, rubbing his arm at the impact point. "You really know how to hold a grudge, don't you? We went out for dinner and really enjoyed each other's company. The next time she visited we went for lunch. It started becoming a bit of a tradition where she'd come to visit my sister, and we'd meet up for a meal at some point. It took about three years before we both realized that our meals together were the closest things either of us were having to real dates and…things just started working out well."

"That's why you took the desk job," Jaina said. "Safer, more stable."

"Yeah."

"So now what?"

Jag grimaced slightly and took Jaina's hand in his, discretely slipping a data card into her hand. Jaina looked down and saw a sapphire ring she had not noticed earlier glowing faintly for a second.

"I wish I could help you," Jag said, turning to face her and tugging on her hands until she forced herself to look into his green eyes. "But giving information of certain sorts to outsiders is treason to the Chiss Ruling Council. I want you to promise me you won't hold anything Danni did against her. She was only trying to protect me."

"I…" Jaina looked away and pulled her hands from Jag's, slipping them into her jacket where she safely stowed the data card in her pocket. "I have no right to be upset with anyone but myself."

"Jaina…"

"I want to go back to the hotel." Jaina stood up and fastened her jacket together. "Now."

Jag stood up and looked down at her, surprised by the pain he saw in her brandy brown eyes as she avoided his gaze. He finally nodded.

"I'll have a driver sent around."

Jaina nodded and turned her back to him. He hesitated for a moment before going back into the house.

"You should know, at one time, you meant the galaxy to me."

Jag finally walked away, trying to ignore the sobs of the girl he once wanted to marry.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Having been the only apparent surviving members of an entire destroyed drop ship, the Jedi were able to escape having to check in with anyone upon arriving on Krayt's command ship. They disembarked from the crowded drop ship into a huge hanger bay that stretched nearly a kilometre to either side, broken up only by large transparisteel walls that partially blocked the view of the giant dull grey expanse. Luke noticed fighters on either side of the drop ships, absently noting the advantage of having drop ships covered from both sides immediately upon launch and wondered why the fighters were not launched with the drop ships in their failed raid. Racks suspended from the ceiling provided a second layer of storage for fighters and catwalks connected the racks to the interior wall of the hanger bay.

"Focus, farmboy," Mara whispered and nudged him as they followed the rest of the soldiers streaming out of the hanger.

"I'm gathering intel," Luke whispered back defensively, but focused his attention on not trying to be so obvious about it.

They marched through a double-wide door into a very wide hallway that two load lifters could drive down side-by-side. The troopers fell to the right side and they followed in formation until they reached a bank of cylindrical turbolift doors half embedded into the walls. While their unwitting guides took one lift, the Jedi waited for an empty one to arrive and piled into it. Jacen used one of his unusual skills to stop the video feed of the camera and Luke used the Force to lift Mara up so she could open the hatch at the top. With a faint metallic whine, the hatch lifted and swung away. A blast of air entered the lift compartment and the Jedi quickly worked against it to get on top of the lift car and brace themselves with the Force. After Luke levitated Jacen up, Mara closed the hatch and Luke settled his nephew on top of the hatch.

"Camera's back on," Jacen shouted over the wind. "I set the lift for the tenth floor. Intel suggests Kraty's quarters are between decks nine and eleven."

Close to a minute later the lift slowed and the Jedi came up level with the door to the ninth floor. They removed their helmets and tied them and their blaster rifles to the lift pod with some rope they brought. A quick scan in the Force showed the hallway to be deserted, so Luke Forced the doors open. They slipped into the hallway, extracted their lightsabers, and proceeded through the dark grey hallways. Unlike the areas closer to the hanger bay, these hallways were darker and narrow.

"There should be a data terminal," Octa said. "I hope that device your droid made works."

"Bash it if it fails," Jacen suggested. "Not before."

Eriana poked her head around a corner and then proceeded down it when it was clear. With Eriana leading the group and Jacen hiding their presences in the Force, the rest of them examined the red plates embedded into the walls at eye level beside each door frame, noting that almost all of them said "Supplies," "Weapons," "Quarters," or "Storage."

"Here," Luke said, pointing to one of the plates. "Security Substation Nine Besh."

"That'll do nicely," Octa said. She examined the keypad and let her fingers hover over the numbers, drawing on the Force for guidance. She suddenly hammered four buttons with her index finger and the door clicked open. Before she could proceed, Jacen put a hand on her shoulder.

"Let us," he whispered and disappeared into the room with Eriana right behind him.

Luke looked at Mara, who shrugged and pulled out her lightsaber. As Mara reached to push the door open, Jacen opened it from inside.

"Quickly," Jacen gestured to them and they entered the security substation. Luke was last to enter the room and behind the Jedi he saw three unconscious officers being bound and gagged by Eriana. By the time he looked up at the bank of computer monitors lining one of the walls, Octa had already plugged the module supplied to them by HK-47 into the astromech computer socket and the droid's rusty-red face appeared on one of the monitors.

"Announcement: HK-47 reporting in, meatbags," HK-47 said. An insistent chirp echoed through the connection and HK-47's eyes flashed. "The subspace connection appears to be working at full reception and Artoo has access to the entire network."

"Excellent," Octa said. "Minimize your data usage to reduce the chances of being detected for now."

"Belligerent reply: I am aware of how to hack a computer system discretely, meatbag," HK-47 replied. "Query: May I speak to the master? Your condescending remarks are activating my assassination protocols."

Luke, Mara, Kyp and Octa all turned to Jacen and spoke in unison. "Assassination protocols?"

Jacen ignored their question and stepped forward. "HK, access the cameras and look for Darth Krayt. Also, see if you can pull up a schematic of this ship. Please download it for your reference as well. We may as well extract whatever intel we can. We may not get another chance like this."

A wireframe image of the ship appeared on one of the displays to everyone's left displaying all of the hallways, infrastructure, and major points of ship operation. They all studied it in silence as HK-47 and Artoo perused the camera feeds from around the ship.

"Here," HK-47 finally said. "We have located the target."

A green dot appeared on the wire-frame display and a line connected their location to his. They were about a kilometre away and two floors up from Krayt's location.

"Find us the easiest route that is least populated," Jacen ordered. "We should avoid people if we can."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

When Jacen had requested the least populated route to Darth Krayt's location he did not expect to be crawling and shimmying through air ducts for over eight hundred metres, but when he silently dropped into the long, dark room occupied at the far end solely by Darth Krayt, he felt the crawl was worth it.

Luke dropped next to him without a sound, followed by Mara, Eriana, Kyp and finally Octa. Luke nodded to his nephew and each Jedi extracted their lightsabers from their outfits. Luke and Jacen led, followed by Eriana and Mara with Kyp and Octa taking the rear, approaching the far end of the room where Krayt stared out the window.

"I've been expecting you," Darth Krayt's deep voice echoed through the room coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. "I'm impressed you got this far. But you have gone far enough."

Darth Krayt rippled into oblivion – as only a hologram would – and Jacen swore.

"It's a trap!" He shouted and two transparisteel walls shot out of the floor, trapping Luke and Jacen between them.

The doors behind Kyp and Octa opened and seven of Krayt's warriors streamed into the room with lightsabers ablaze. The Jedi activated their lightsabers in kind and the four free Jedi engaged their seven attackers. Before Jacen and Luke could punch their lightsabers into the transparisteel cage, a stream of energy shot out from the walls. The bolt grazed Luke, burning his shoulder as he twisted out of the way and fell to the ground, but Jacen held out his palms to catch the bolt of energy. Drawing on the Force, he allowing the energy to flow through him and dissipate across the cage into the wall.

"I've got this," Jacen said to his uncle through gritted teeth as the energy threatened to overwhelm him. "Cut the cage open!"

Luke's lightsaber bounced off the transparisteel and a loud hissing noise caught his attention.

"I can't cut through it - it's magnetically sealed!" Luke said. "They're sucking the air out!" He immediately pulled as much air as he could around him and his nephew, keeping them safe from suffocation. As he turned his attention back to the transparisteel wall and prepared to use the Force on it, several darts and canisters shot out from the walls. The canisters exploded inside their air bubble and the darts mostly deflected off the armoured suits they wore, but a couple found purchase on exposed skin on both of the Jedi.

The last thing Jacen thought as the world went black was _Poison_.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Two walls slammed down around Luke and Jacen, trapping them fast, but the hiss of a door opening behind her brought Mara's attention to more pressing matters. As seven of Krayt's warriors rushed into the room with lightsabers drawn, she pressed the activation stub on her lightsaber and turned to engage them with Eriana at her side. As Kyp and Octa took on three warriors together, Mara deflected a downward swipe with a horizontal sweep, twisted with the momentum of her swing, back-kicked the first target with a Force-enhanced kick and sent the female Zabrak stumbling backwards against her male counterpart as Eriana expertly used her two blades to engage a Rodian and a Devaronian with almost effortless grace. Mara took her opponents' distraction to rush the Devaronian, letting Eriana's strike at his head distract him long enough for her to use Force-enhanced speed to rush past his back side and swing her lightsaber through his back, bisecting him from hip to shoulder. She continued her momentum toward the transparisteel wall beside Eriana and, as a bolt of lightning flashed across Luke and Jacen's cage, Mara ran up the side of the wall over Eriana and let the other woman distract the Rodian by dropping to the ground as she sprung off the wall and took his head off with a quick slash of her blade.

Mara landed on the ground, crossed half the room with a roll and came up with a twist as Eriana kipped to her feet, both of them on either side of the two Devaronians that were expecting to face Eriana or Mara alone. Using a series of fast diversionary strikes and quick steps, Eriana and Mara drove the two warriors together until they were fighting back-to-back, defensively trying to escape the cage of Jedi lightsaber strikes that kept them contained. On cue from Eriana, Mara swung high as she swung low, allowing Mara to bisect Eriana's enemy as he jumped to avoid Eriana's low slash, and Eriana chopped Mara's warrior's feet off at the ankle. A quick blow from Mara's lightsaber beheaded her warrior, and the two women turned to appraise Kyp and Octa. Or, more accurately, what was left of them.

Octa's limp body was pinned to the wall by a knife through her neck, and Kyp was on his back desperately sucking in air from the gaping hole that had obviously been carved into his chest by a lightsaber. Two of their opponents were dead and the third, a burly Besalisk with a lightsaber in each of his four hands, was sadistically watching the life fade out of Kyp.

"Go!" Kyp wheezed. He shakily raised his hand and pushed the Besalisk against the wall, holding him fast with the Force. The warrior struggled against Kyp's hold, but could not break free of the Jedi's telekinesis. "I'm dead already."

"Come on," Eriana grabbed Mara's arm.

"But…" Mara looked back at the transparisteel cage in the middle of the room, but it was already empty. She did not even notice their extraction.

"Now!" Eriana shouted, pulling on Mara's arm as she sensed Kyp gathering the Force around him. Together they disappeared into the hallway. After a few minutes of sprinting, using the Force to guide them to where they would not be noticed, Eriana skidded to a halt and pulled open an air vent above them. As Mara climbed into the air vent a wave of shock rippled through her - Kyp had finally passed into the Force.


	8. Victim

Sioux: I plan on killing everyone off on both sides so and reducing the entire population of the galaxy down to R2D2 and C3PO. Having won their independence from the evil clutches of the Solo/Skywalker family, R2 and 3PO will travel the galaxy on an endless quest looking for a pet kitten that looks remarkably like Han Solo. Okay, I _really_ need to get more sleep before writing these comments. The foiled Jedi plan is not entirely of their own faults as infiltrators... As for Jaina, I agree. Shoving those two together in canon was like mating a leonburger with a shihtzu. Should not be done. That was way too long a time between them, and I thought Danni had a great connection to the Fel family to exploit. I think part of Danni hoped that she could get away with Jaina not finding out because of the rigidity of the Csillian culture. What she didn't count on was Isolder being there and forcing the delay of Jaina being able to get the information she needed from Jag, thereby opening up the opportunity for a social event where the proverbial cat could be let out of the bag. Jag's sister never struck me as the most discrete person around. As for hockey, it means a lot more to Canada than most other countries. From my sense of what people have told me, I think for the US it would be another medal, but for Canada, it's everything. And I can't stand Crosby either.

A/N: 45 Celsius = 113 Fahrenheit.

Chapter 6: Victim [[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Several hours had passed since the failed attack on Darth Krayt and Mara still did not have a plan. After escaping through the air ducts, they had to quickly abandon that route when they discovered emergency bulkheads were being closed to block their progress. Thankfully, lightsabers cut through emergency bulkheads, but that also left a trail to be followed. They had spent so much time avoiding patrols that were closing around them that they barely had time to think of how to rescue Luke and Jacen. Their efforts were also impeded by the ship jumping to hyperspace, cutting them off from HK-47 and Artoo.

"In here," Eriana whispered, stopping at a door along the otherwise empty hallway they had risked entering. She opened the door to a droid storage closet with a passcard she had stolen from one of the security personnel earlier in the day. They squeezed into the closet between the shelves of cleaning supplies and Mara found herself almost sitting on top of a deactivated astromech when the door closed, casting them into darkness.

"We can't stay here long," Mara cautioned her. "If they track our heat signatures..."

"I know, but we need to access the computer system so we can figure out where Jacen and Luke are," Eriana said. She pulled a small datapad out of her pocket and a long coil of wire from another. She handed one end of the wire to Mara and pointed to the wall behind the astromech she was sitting on. "Plug this into the data port."  
>Mara took the wire and awkwardly felt around behind herself to find the port.<p>

"Wouldn't they be able to pick up our location?"

"Probably," Eriana admitted. "But we're flying blind."

"Got it," Mara said as the wire clicked into the port. "Try the connection now."

Eriana tapped the screen several times, her face glowing a slightly different colour with every press of the screen.

"It's working. Now to slice into their security."

"Here," Mara said, holding her hand out for the datapad. "I've been doing that since before you were born."

Eriana passed it to her and removed a lightsaber from her belt, just in case.

"You know, I'm not as young as all you Jedi think I am," Eriana said. "I just turned thirty-seven."

"That doesn't change the validity of my statement," Mara said after doing some quick math in her head. "I've located their lightsabers. They're in an unguarded armoury not far from here."

"That was fast. What about the two of them?"

"They're being held in two different locations, but they're under heavy guard."

"If we try breaking one out..."

"They'll double the guard on the other," Mara finished.

"We should go after Luke," Eriana said, to Mara's surprise. "He knows more sensitive information about the Jedi than Jacen does, and Jacen knows a thing or two about surviving torture."

"Luke would want us to save Jacen."

"They'd both want us to save the other," Eriana countered. "And I think we both know where our personal loyalties lie, but we can't let emotion get in the way of logic. Losing Luke would be a much bigger blow to Jedi morale. Half the Jedi can't stand Jacen."

"We still need an escape plan." Mara turned her attention back to the datapad without offering any argument to protect her nephew. "But we'll still be trapped until we drop out of hyperspace."

"See if you can find out our destination and ETA," Eriana suggested. "If we're going to Coruscant, we may be better off waiting for them to be transferred to the planet and break them out there. A big city is easier to get lost in than a big ship."

"On it," Mara said. A few minutes passed before Mara's eyes grew wide. She held up the datapad to Eriana to show their destination.

"How...?"

"He must have tracked one of our ships," Mara said. "This is bad."

"Not entirely," Eriana said. "If he's going _there_, then he's going to want Luke and Jacen to watch the attack..."  
>"...which means he'll bring them together to wherever he is..."<p>

"...and we can get both of them out at once. Scan the ship schematic for forward view ports near the command centre."

"I'm already on it," Mara said tapping away on the screen. About ten minutes later she handed over the datapad with a map of the ship displaying a green path and a few red dots over it.

"We have twelve hours until arrival. We have to go here to get the lightsabers, here to grab some food, here to get some rest, and this is where Krayt's going to be. It's the only restricted area near the command centre with windows, and it isn't far from Krayt's quarters."

"Looks good," Eriana said. "But does this _really_ say we're sleeping in a garbage compactor?"

"Welcome to the spy life, princess," Mara said. "We go where nobody else wants to."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

At some point in the night Jaina finally came to the realization that she was not going to get any sleep, so she decided get out of bed. Hours had passed since Leia had checked in on her when everyone came back from the Fel residence. Curled up under the blankets hugging a pillow, Jaina pretended she was asleep even though her mom probably knew she was wide awake. The gesture of checking on her was not unappreciated, but since Jaina had stripped her clothes off and crawled under the sheets without bothering to put anything else on, not to mention her foul mood, she really did not want to get out of bed.

She finally sat up in bed and tossed the covers aside, looking down at her naked body with a measure of indifferent curiosity in the dim lighting of the room. She looked at her breasts, caressing the right one with her right hand and giving it a tentative squeeze, as if trying to figure out if or for what a man might be interested in it. She released her grip and her hand fell to run over her abs, well-defined from decades of training as a Jedi, and she looked down over the strong, lean muscles on her legs that had run marathons through the jungles of Yavin 4 and carried her both into and out of countless battles. The general consensus from celebrity holonet reports was that she was attractive. _Very_ attractive, even. Her body was in really good shape, she curved in the right places, and her breasts were well-suited to her small frame. But after the rejection from last night, she did not feel anything but revolting.

_What does Danni have that I don't?_ Jaina thought to herself, and shook her head. _How did Jacen get so lucky finding Tenel Ka and…I'm just…alone?_

She slowly pulled herself to the edge of the bed and got to her feet. She crossed the room and picked up her bag of clothes, quickly sifting through it for a clean set. She carried the clean clothes to the refresher and tossed them on the counter. She caught her reflection in the mirror and looked at her face. Her eyes were bloodshot from crying all night, and dark crescents stood out under her eyes against her otherwise pale skin from the lack of sleep.

Jaina turned away from the hideous reflection staring back at her and activated the sonic shower, setting it to forty five degrees. She got into the shower and tried to let it wash away her misery with the steamy heat, but all it did was make her skin feel hot. Deep down, her thoughts were still lingering on the turn of events from the night before. The more she thought about it with the sonic shower scrubbing her skin, the events of last couple weeks nearly made her sick to her stomach.

After about twenty minutes of standing in the hot shower leaning against the wall without moving, Jaina finally decided that she could stand there all day and nothing would change. Her skin had already turned bright pink from the heat, but the chill of Csilla would not leave her. She got out of the shower and quickly dressed, thankful the mirror had fogged up so she would not have to see her own reflection. She picked up the clothes scattered on the floor from the night before and gathered her few other belongings and stuffed them into her bag. Stopping only to grab some fruit and bread from the small kitchenette, she left the hotel suite without even leaving a note. She knew her mom would figure out where she went – there _was_ only one place she would go.

It was not until Jaina finished the pre-flight preparations on the _Millennium Falcon_ and locked herself in the cockpit that she finally looked at the time – it was nearly 0600, local time. The others would show up eventually, so Jaina figured she should do something productive. She pulled the data card from her jacket and shucked the jacket off, draping it across the back of the communication chair. She pulled her LinkCom from her pocket and plopped herself into the pilot seat. She hesitated for a moment, almost unwilling to accept help from him, before closing her eyes and reminding herself of what she had said to Jag the night before.

_I have no right to be upset with anyone but myself._

She had said it to appease him, trying to convince herself that she might believe those words. Distantly she knew that it was the right answer. But the pain in her heart screamed otherwise.

_I have no right to be upset with anyone but myself_, Jaina repeated, this time trying to remind herself that it was the right answer. I'm _the one who screwed things up with Jag, not Danni. I can't blame them for my mistakes._

She plugged the data card into her LinkCom and watched as ten files appeared on the file menu. She selected the first file and began reading.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Like an underwater game of tug of war, Jacen slowly fought his way back to a level of consciousness where thought and perception became coherent enough that he could start to make sense of his situation. His limbs felt heavy and his mind sluggish as he tried rolling to his feet, but merely rolled off the bunk and landed face-first on the cold hard metal floor. He clumsily felt around, reaching up to his face to remove the blindfold so he could see, but no blindfold was present. It took him a few moments to realize the problem was not with his eyes: the room he was in was completely dark. His mind slowly caught up to his last memories as it sluggishly played out the trap – him and Luke fighting the lack of air, the electrical currents, and...the poison.

Jacen closed his eyes and focused the Force inside himself and discovered the poison spreading inside him, but it felt like hollow points in the Force. He switched to his Vongsense and the hollow points lit up like stars in the night sky – poison spores, not very different from the ones his aunt had been infected with. Using his Vongsense and the Force, he tweaked the white blood cells in his body to direct them in fighting the spores and modified the water in his blood to break up the toxins. Sometime later he finally felt refreshed and, satisfied the poison was removed from his system, slowly pushed himself to his feet. He held out a hand and gathered several air molecules near his palm, speeding them up until they began to emit light. He tossed the ball into the air and gathered more air molecules together, repeating the process until he had four balls of light hovering above him under his control. Using the light he was able to examine the small dark grey cell he had been imprisoned in, but was unable to find any immediate means of escape. Checking his pockets, everything had been removed, including the ball of lint he had been saving.

The door unexpectedly shot up into the ceiling and Jacen extinguished his lights. Two human Bogan warriors with extensive tattoos entered with lightsabers drawn, but not ignited, and ordered him to join them. He slowly walked up to them, assessing them with the Force as if to hint that he was not afraid of them, and walked past them. He sensed the blow coming before it hit and shifted slightly so it hit his rib cage instead of on his spine, but he fell to his knees with a cry of pain, feigning the more serious blow. If they wanted him dead, he knew he would be already. The two Bogan warriors grabbed him by his wrists and dragged him between them down the long hallway out of the detention area.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Engrossed in the files given to her by Jag, Jaina abstractly took note of her companions as they entered the hanger bay and boarded the ship. She only glanced up at them for a second to make sure they were all there and tried to suppress the flash of annoyance when she noticed Danni was with them.

_Not her fault_. Jaina reminded herself and put the datapad aside. She checked the time, noting it was almost 0915, and activated the communication system and the engine warm-up procedure.

"Csilla Ground, this is _Millennium Falcon_ requesting clearance for takeoff and a departure vector coreward on flight plan X-3580 that was filed yesterday."

"_Csilla Ground to Millennium Falcon, you are cleared for flight plan X-3580. Please wait for the hanger bay to retract before commencing takeoff procedures. Winds are blowing at 40 knots from the south-west."_

_"Millennium Falcon,_ acknowledged."

Jaina switched on the internal speakers.

"Takeoff in one minute," Jaina advised gruffly. "Strap in."

She flicked it back off and looked up at the roof as it slowly peeled itself open, dropping accumulated snow and letting the brilliant morning sunlight into the hanger. To her surprise, the door opened behind her.

"I thought I locked that," Jaina said as her mother sat in the co-pilot's seat.

"Do you really think your father wouldn't have created a way to get into the sealed cockpit of his own ship?" Leia asked evenly. "He never wanted anyone but himself to take his baby."

"Millennium Falcon_, this is Csilla Ground. Hanger doors are fully retracted. Please proceed with takeoff and flight plan X-3580."_

"Thank you, Csilla Ground. _Millennium Falcon _proceeding on course X-3580."

Jaina added power to the repulsor jets and the _Falcon_ gently lifted from the ground, hovering up about twenty metres above the hanger bay before Jaina retracted the landing pads and added power to the main drive. She pointed the ship up and slammed the throttle to almost full, sending a jolt through the ship that slammed her back into her seat.

"Woah!" Jaina said, bringing back the throttle a bit and grinning sheepishly at her mom's glare. "I forgot how fast this ship is."

"Let's just hope the Chiss don't think of that as a slight against their hospitality," Leia said. "Where are we going next?"

Jaina passed her the LinkCom without taking her eyes or hands off the operation of the ship.

"Jag is a Black Vornskr," Jaina said, trying to maintain a professional tone of voice to hide her pain. "If the Chiss found out, I'm sure there'd be hell to pay. He passed me that data card last night. Wedge contacted him several times over the last couple weeks to gather some intel and support. Those are transcripts of all of their official and unofficial communications over the last few weeks, as well as some older files and Jag's own thoughts and a guide to decrypting their obscure encoding references. Long story short, he believes Wedge is hiding in the Deep Core."

"The Deep Core is dangerous for a fleet that size," Leia said absently, looking over Jag's notes.

"I know _that_," Jaina snapped.

"_Excuse_ _me_?"

Jaina closed her eyes and grimaced for a second. "Sorry. I'm just…last night was…"

"I know." Leia sighed. "But I'm not your enemy. Try to remember that."

They sat in silence for a few moments until the _Falcon_ broke through the atmosphere. Jaina set a course out of the gravity well of Csilla while Leia brought up the charts on the navicomputer.

"Where do you want to start?" Leia asked.

"Iope," Jaina said. "Jag determined that some of Wedge's communications were routed through there."

Silence persisted for a few moments until Jaina finally turned to her mom.

"Thanks," she said, getting a curious look from Leia. "For talking to me and not making me feel like a complete moron and for not bothering me when I was in bed. I needed that as much as I needed space."

"It's what family…" Leia's eyes shifted over Jaina's shoulder and widened in a way that froze her daughter's heart. "Oh, no."

Jaina turned around and saw what her mom had seen – ships jumping into the system. Hundreds. No, _thousands_ of ships. They opened fire on the unprepared Chiss defense fleet, overwhelming them by sheer volume of laser fire.

"We have to help them," Jaina said, reaching for the controls, but a gentle hand grabbed her wrist.

"No," Leia said. "No, Jaina, we have to find Wedge. There's nothing we can do against a fleet that size. Our mission is too important to risk on a fool's errand."

"But…"

"Jaina," Leia squeezed her wrist tighter, finally getting eye contact from her daughter. "You haven't slept, you're emotional, and we are only one small ship with a much more important mission ahead of us. I don't care if you're the captain of this ship or the ranking Jedi Master, attacking is _not_ a good idea and I'm not going to let you do it."

Jaina looked back out the window and watched helplessly as hundreds more ships were dropping out of hyperspace, joining the ones already plodding toward the Chiss home world.

A chime from the navicomputer jolted Jaina's awareness, and she did the only thing she could – she pulled the lever to activate the hyperdrive.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

After being dragged for several long minutes down hallways and through turboshafts as if part of an exposition for everyone on board to see a broken Jedi, Jacen felt the ship drop out of hyperspace. He reached out with the Force to get a sense of their destination and felt a wave of shock fall over him when he recognized it. He was finally dragged into a dark room where he was unceremoniously tossed a couple metres in before his deliverers retreated. He looked up and saw the distinctive shape of Darth Krayt's armour against the world in the distance, but waited where he landed to catch his breath. A few moments later, the door opened behind him and a body was dropped beside him, bound at his wrists behind his back. It took him a minute in the relative darkness to recognize the battered, bloodied body of Luke Skywalker. While Jacen had been lucky to escape the beating, he could sense the poison coursing through his uncle's veins. Perhaps his uncle had put up a fight and lost. Or, more likely, they decided to beat him up for the sick pleasure of it.

"Thank you for joining me," Lord Krayt finally spoke in a deep cultured tone, gesturing for his two Jedi captives to join him closer to the window. Jacen used the Force to release the binders and helped his uncle to his feet. Together they made their way closer to the Sith Lord, Luke leaning heavily on Jacen for support with his arm around his nephew's shoulder.

"Do you know what you are?" Krayt asked in an arrogantly philosophical tone. He waited for several moments until he realized that his question was considered rhetorical by the two Jedi. "You are a disease. The Jedi are infecting the entire galaxy with their counterproductive ideals, preventing it from prospering. You insist on war, and you only destroy that which you want to build. It is time for this insanity to stop. It is time for _one_ ruler in the galaxy, one strong enough to bring it together and end this pointless contest."

"Palpatine tried the same thing," Jacen replied evenly. "You're just going to be another failure in a long line of Sith failures."

"Perhaps," Krayt said agreeably, turning to make eye contact with Jacen – his two different coloured eyes glowing in sharp contrast with the shadows of his face against the planet behind him. "But as an old Jedi Master once taught, 'try not; do or do not.'

"Do you know the capabilities of my ship, young Jedi?" Krayt continued. "The superlasers are quite capable of destroying most capital ships on their own. But when you put several of them together..."

Krayt gestured to either side of him, where seven more of his capital ships dropped out of hyperspace into formation as if on his cue.

"You can destroy a planet."

Jacen closed his eyes and pushed out with the Force for a second before looking at Krayt.

"Don't even try it," Jacen warned him. "Not even you are that stupid."

"What better way is there to destroy the future of the Jedi Order than to wipe out the Jedi Temple and the last remaining stronghold of _children_?" Krayt demanded, ignoring Jacen's warning.

Krayt smiled and pressed a button on his wrist communicator.

"All ships, lock target on the planet below and synchronize attack."

"Zonoma Sekot is not a threat to you unless you make her one!" Jacen shouted. "Don't attack her, Krayt!"

"_Attack synchronization complete. Ready to fire on your order._"

"Witness, the fall of the Jedi, young Skywalkers," Krayt mocked and turned back to face the doomed planet before him. "Fire!"

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

A/N: This is the end of part one. Part 2 will continue in April. May the Force be with you.


	9. Part 2: Renewal - Ch 7: Second Chances

A/N - Sorry, no apologies for the delay...I had to make sure it was good enough to publish and that the parts I hadn't written made sense all the way through. I'm actually posting a week earlier than I expected, so enjoy!

Sioux - That comment Eriana made was one of the last additions before I posted. I thought it was pretty appropriate :) As for Krayt...he wants to wipe out the Jedi and he has some incredibly powerful ships. Taking out their new home is a pretty good strategy.

**Part 2: Renewal**

**Chapter 7: Second Chances**

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Eight massive fifteen kilometre long arrow-shaped warships fell into formation and took up firing position at the planet before them. With their targeting computers synchronized on the core of the planet and the final adjustments being made by automation, the all-ready signal was transmitted to Darth Krayt. On his command, the three superlaser generators on each ship spun up to full power, glowed with angry green energy and directed the power to the main emitter at the forward-most point on the top of each of the ships where, as one, the beams of light lanced through space toward the heart of Zonoma Sekot.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Jacen's watched helplessly as the destructive beams of light sliced through the black of space toward the surface of his planetary friend. The beams continued for a full ten seconds before deactivating for their recharge cycle. Krayt turned to face Jacen with a look of absolute fury, and the young Jedi merely shrugged as best he could while still holding the weight of his uncle.

"Guess who taught me how to create a black hole with the Force." Jacen smirked. "I just have one question: What made you think you could attack a Force-sensitive planet and get away with it?"

A stream of nebulous light lanced out from the surface of Zonoma and engulfed two of the Bogan warships, ripping them apart and scattering the parts through space as if the ship had decided that every bolt and rivet would be undone at once. An explosion behind Jacen blew the door open and without even bothering to look, he fired a telekinetic shockwave at Krayt, launching the Sith Lord off his feet and back against the transparisteel window overlooking Zonoma. Mara raced up to Jacen and took Luke on her left shoulder, supporting him with the Force while holding her blue lightsaber ready in her right.

"Here!" Eriana shouted, tossing Jacen his lightsabers from the door. He caught them and activated them just in time to stop a strike from Krayt, stepping back to deflect his assailant's lightsaber into the deck plating.

"Go; I'll cover you!" Jacen shouted, dropping beneath Krayt's blazing lightsaber as it scythed over his head. He jumped back up with a spin and kicked backwards, connected hard with Krayt's chest and staggering the Sith Lord for a short moment. Back peddling toward the door, he used the Force to launch streams of lightning at Krayt, which absorbed harmlessly into his opponent's lightsaber. Switching it up, he grabbed the durasteel ceiling with the Force and pulled it down. The entire section of metal dropped in front of Krayt like a curtain, blocking the larger man, but also dropped three of Krayt's Bogan warriors in from the room above along with a cascade of furniture.

"Shavit!" Jacen shouted and hit them with another telekinetic shockwave to send them in a tumble before they could get to their feet. He sprinted to the door and followed his aunt and uncle out of it. As the door closed, Jacen used the Force to rip the control panel out of the wall, temporarily sealing it behind him. Emergency klaxons blared in sync with flashing red lights in the hallway and every officer and soldier was running around to respond to the imminent crisis. Jacen felt two more ships falling apart as Sekot unleashed her counterattack and urged Eriana to move faster as she led the way. Jacen took up Luke's other arm and together he and Mara carried the Jedi Master between them, running through the hallways with Force-enhanced strength and speed.

Eriana turned a corner and spun sideways on instinct, narrowly dodging the slash of a red lightsaber. Her own golden lightsabers were activated in a flash, driving the Bogan warrior back against the wall and quickly overwhelming him.

"Keep going!" Eriana shouted as she disarmed and de-armed the warrior. One final swipe bisected the man and she sprinted back ahead of with the others to take point.

A line of soldiers took up position further up the hallway and opened fire on the Jedi as they came around a corner, forcing them down a perpendicular hallway that took them to the last hallway along the outside of the ship. Eriana covered their backs, deflecting blaster bolts back at the enemy with uncanny precision, taking several of them out in the process.

"Woah, woah," Jacen suddenly said, pointing to the wall. "Escape pods. We can escape to Zonoma."

"We heard the superlaser fire," Eriana said. "Is Sekot...?"

"She's fine," Jacen said. "I was able to warn her in time. Everyone's in a panic because she's pissed off and ripping all the ships apart. There's going to be too much debris for them to notice escape pods, and there's no way we'll get to a ship in time."

Mara punched the control panel on the escape pod and the door opened. She stepped into it and between her and Jacen they eased Luke into the pod.

"Only big enough for two," Mara said. "What happened to him?"

"Vong poison," Jacen said. "I healed myself. I'll heal him on Sekot. Go!"

A cry from Eriana took Jacen's attention back to her and he saw her caressing one arm with a blaster burn on it, haphazardly deflecting blaster fire with the damaged arm.

"Go!" Jacen shouted again and Mara finally slammed her fist on the ejection button.

Jacen stepped to the next pod and opened it.

"Get in, I'll cover you," Jacen said, igniting his lightsabers and stepping in front of her. As she retreated into the pod, seven Bogan warriors came sprinting at Jacen, lightsabers drawn.

"I'll help," Eriana said, trying to get out of the pod as Jacen sprinted at them to intercept.

"No, get out of here!" Jacen shouted, disappearing from view as the Bogan warriors surrounded him. "Help Luke!"

Jacen engaged the Bogan warriors in a furious battle, lightsabers flashing with the power of the Force, but Eriana knew there was no way he could overcome seven warriors on his own. One warrior broke off and started running at her pod and, realizing Jacen made his sacrifice so she could live to fight another day, she swore and reluctantly punched the eject button. A burst of pain shot through her hand from punching the button, but she hardly noticed it. The last she saw of her best friend as the pressure doors slammed shut was him on his knees with a pair of lightsabers at his neck.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The amber liquid in her glass flowed around as she gently rolled it around on the bottom edge, watching it take shape to whatever way she held the glass, always trying to remain level with the bar. She was on her eighth double shot, an impressive feat for a woman of such small build. She hefted the glass up, looking through it at the distorted image of the holonet news report, barely able to keep her eyes open from the amount of alcohol in her system.

_"...the Synergy Technology LinkCom device has already sold eighty billion units as sentients across the galaxy line up in droves to get their hands on the groundbreaking technology. In other news, domestic house cats have from Telos have been imported to Coruscant for the first time since..."_

She sighed and drained the remainder of the whiskey, then rested her forehead against the cool glass as she struggled to down the last of the amber fluid without coughing. She finally swallowed it and dropped her hand with the glass to the bar with a solid echo.

"'nother," she said, barely making eye contact with the barkeep.

"I think you've had enough," the barkeep said. He grabbed the glass, but was unable to pull it from her grip with his gentle tug.

"One more."

"There are laws against that," he said gently. "I'd lose my license. You've had too many."

She glared at him with her brown eyes that would've been pretty if they were not blood shot and ringed with dark circles underneath. Her disheveled hair and unkempt clothes added to her rough appearance, but the bartender felt like he recognized her from somewhere.

"Wha's your name?" she asked.

"Mike."

"Mike, give me 'nother shot."

"I can't do that," Mike said with a smile.

She waved a hand in front of his face. "You will give me another shot."

"What, do you think you're some kind of Jedi?" Mike finally tugged the glass from her grip and her head fell to her arm that was draped across the wooden surface of the bar. When she lifted her head off the bar, he saw tears on her cheeks. "Look, I can't legally give you more alcohol, but do you want to talk?"

"No," she said, pointing to the shelf full of bottles behind him. "I jus wanna drink."

"A pretty girl like you shouldn't be drinking so much," Mike said with a smile.

"You think I'm pretty?" she asked, seemingly confused by his statement.

Before he could answer, a man approached her from behind, and Mike saw him pull a blaster from his jacket. The man pushed the muzzle against the girl's back and whispered something in her ear, but she barely seemed to react.

She stood up and stumbled against the bar.

"Sorry," she said. "Mike didn't give me 'nuf."

The mysterious man tossed a five-hundred credit coin to Mike.

"You saw nothing."

By the time Mike looked back up from the coin, the man and woman were gone.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"You've been asking too many questions, Jaina Solo" the man with the blaster said as he escorted her down the alleyway between the bar and an apartment building. "My employer needs to have a word with you."

"He got booze?" Jaina asked, stumbling on an uneven cobblestone. "'cuz if he doesn', I don' wanna see him."

A black hovercar pulled up to the road at the end of the alley and another person came out with a roll of space tape. With her mind stuck somewhere between inebriated and indifferent, a strip went over her mouth and another bound her wrists before she could react. A black hood went over her head and they unceremoniously pushed her into the back of the hovercar, locking her in. At some point she fell asleep from the gentle rocking of the hovercar and the amount of alcohol in her system and was woken as she was being pulled out of the car. She was carried into a building over someone's shoulder where she was dropped into a chair, the tape was cut from her wrists, and the hood pulled from her head. She barely noticed when the tape was ripped from her mouth for she did not expect to see the man standing in front of her.

"Welcome to Iope, Jaina," Talon Karrde said. "You've been busy, haven't you?"

He picked up a glass full of clear liquid from his table he was leaning against and handed it to her.

"Here, it'll help with tomorrow morning," Karrde said. "Han sure taught you how to drink, didn't he? Getting kicked out of eight bars in one night is quite a feat."

"Dad taught me a lot," Jaina said miserably and drank half the glass of water. She could already feel a marching band parading through her skull. "Why'd you have to go send your boys to ruin my night?"

"You've been asking questions about Wedge," Karrde said. "He asked me to intercept you."

"Why?"

"Well, for one, he wants me to tell you where to find him so you stop asking everyone and their pet where he is," Karrde said. "Two, if _other_ people are looking for him, the wrong people will start hearing the same answers you are. Time is far too precious right now for what he is doing."

"So where is he?"

"Leia has the coordinates already," Karrde said. "We'll head over to the _Falcon_ after my team is done looking for tracers and bugs. Wedge wants all ships travelling to his location to be clean."

"How long will that be?"

"Not very," Karrde said and checked his LinkCom from his pocket. Apparently satisfied he dropped it back into the pocket. "I'm just waiting for the all-clear. Now, enough about Wedge. From what I've heard, you've been a little out of sorts lately."

"It's been a bad month," Jaina muttered. "I'd appreciate if you didn't tell her where you found me."

"All information has its cost," Karrde warned. "And I don't mean I'm going to charge her for it. But I will share some good news for free. The Chiss were able to repel the attack on their home world. Apparently it was quite the slaughter. It takes a very special sort of stupid to attack the Chiss on their home turf."

"If you say so," Jaina muttered. Between her anger and lingering feelings for Jag, she was not quite sure if she should be grateful to hear the report. She suspected that the lack of news on the attack in the holonet was because the Bogan Empire wanted to avoid reporting a failure, but knowing the outcome from the fight she ran away from did ease her mind a bit.

Jaina felt the hair stand up on the back of her neck just before the door exploded inward. She narrowly deflected it with the Force, barely clipping Karrde's shoulder with it as it passed. The last thing Jaina remembered was seeing red lightsabers come through the door and a vague flying sensation.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The haze of unconsciousness lurked around him like a theatre curtain being pulled aside far too slowly. Light found his eyes through his fluttering eyelids as his mind fought the anesthesia, requiring him to use all of his will power to finally force his eyes open. He took in the plain dark grey ceiling above him for the second he could keep his eyes open until the anesthesia won again, shutting his eyelids. This battle went on four more times before he was finally able to keep his eyes open. Some small eternity later he sat up on the hard metal slab of a bed he had been on and undid the safety straps. He eventually realized that the dull throb he felt through the metal was the hyperdrive of a small ship and pieces of memories came back to him, but none told him what he needed to know.

As his consciousness won more ground against the anesthesia, he finally got onto his feet and stumbled his way out of the small room. A narrow corridor greeted him, one end ending in a diagonal wall, the other end the cockpit of the ship. He could see his captor in the cockpit. The captor's chair swivelled around away from the controls as if he knew he was being watched. He wore a casual blue buttoned up shirt and navy blue pants and held a white porcelain mug in his left hand that matched the colour of his hair. The man's beady eyes lit up at the sight of his prisoner, and a smile came to his face.

"Finally awake, I see," the captor said in a softly accented voice. "Please, come join me."

Unable to avoid his captor's request, he cautiously entered the cockpit, walking along the wall with his hands to keep himself upright. He noted many illegal modifications, but recognized the ship as an AIAT/i gunship. For some reason that was important, but he could not remember _why_.

"Would you like some tea?" the captor asked, gesturing to the cup in his hand. "It is a delicious blend I picked up on Gallinore before it was destroyed. The Hapans certainly knew how to make good tea."

"No," the man spoke his first word. "Who...?"

The captor smiled gently. "I forgot; your memories. The scientist said they would return in time. The procedure was largely successful, but likely unstable. My name is Boba Fett."

_Boba Fett_. That name rang a bell. Bounty hunter. Mandalorian.

"Why have you captured me? Who...who put a bounty on me?"

Boba Fett smiled again and put his cup on the console behind him.

"When your memories return, you will recall that I did not capture you," Fett said gently. "But that I offered you a second chance which you were more than happy to take."

"A second chance at what?" the man asked. "What was the first chance?"

"We are both dying," Fett said. "About a year ago my DNA began to destabilize, an unfortunate by-product of being a clone. When I found out about your condition, the scientist that has been helping me told me about an experimental procedure to reconstruct your neural pathways. The effect has only ever held limited success, and your brain will likely destabilize in under a month, which is also as much time as I have. You agreed with my thought that we might do some good together. I've always wanted to go out with a bang, and your flare for the dramatic is legendary."

The man's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "And what 'bang' would that be?"

"There is a Sith Lord who has started taking over the galaxy using some very powerful ships," Fett said. "And I happen to know exactly where his ship yard is. Destroying that shipyard is a suicide mission that I cannot accomplish on my own, but it will slow his progress and give our children a fighting chance at defeating him. I think that is a mission any father would take, and you had agreed to it before the procedure."

"I have children?"

"Two," Fett said. "Their names are..."

"Jacen and Jaina," he said, the two words jumping out of the depths of his distant memory. His head shot up and he looked up to his only friend in the galaxy. "What's my name? Who am I?"

"Your name is Han," Fett said softly, meeting his new partner's anxious gaze with a gentle smile. "Han Solo."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

A/N: I wrote Boba Fett as Jeremy Bulloch…he was such a nice guy when I met him I decided to carry that on a bit. We never really see Fett when he's anything but the badass…but I'm sure he had a nice side, and if he did, I think it would've been like Mr Bulloch. And did you really think I'd kill Han off that pathetically? I'm cruel, but not _that_ cruel.


	10. Re-Education

Onimi - Well, Han is in the list of main characters...

Sioux - I liked depressed drunk Jaina. She was funny. I think you'll see a few things about her that will likely fall in line with what someone going through a case of depression would...short of cutting herself.

Not much action, but a very important chapter. Hope you enjoy.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Chapter 8 – Re-education

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Jaina woke to an upside down furry face growling inches from her own face and shoved it back with the Force by reflex. Prepared for it, Lowie blocked her attack and crooned a question.

"What happened?" Jaina demanded and sat up. The office spun around her and she leaned against the wall to catch her balance. With the amount of alcohol in her system she was barely able to see straight, much less stand. She surveyed the office around her as quickly as she could. The door had been blown off the hinges, there were blaster bolt marks on the walls, and on the desk...

[I was hoping you could tell me], Lowie growled. Karrde's dead.

Jaina pulled herself to her feet with Lowie's assistance and numbly stumbled over to the desk where Karrde's lifeless body laid sprawled across it. Trying to ignore the lightsaber burns through his chest, she gently reached over and closed his still-open eyes, her hands shaking from the seemingly simple effort.

"I-I was knocked out," Jaina said. "I saw lightsabers. They knocked the door in...and I think I was flying...the wall..."

Her voice trailed off as her lower lip trembled from the grisly room and she could no longer contain the emotions. Between the concussion, the alcohol, and the pain of failure with Karrde, she collapsed against her friend's chest and cried, hugging him tight. She squeezed handfuls of his fur into her fists and pulled herself against him as if to prevent him from leaving her, too.

[Here], Lowie eventually attached her lightsaber to her belt and eased her out of the hug which had resulted in more than a few painfully removed strands of fur. [We need to get back to the _Falcon_.]

Jaina nodded and wiped her eyes, looking back at Karrde as Lowie half carried her out of the room. She could not help but think, _Another friend I've failed._

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The first escape pod slammed into the ground not far from the base of the Jedi Temple, just slightly into the exotic Zonoma jungle where the trees were not thick enough to cause damage to the pod. By the time Mara had pushed the door open, the other pod slammed into the ground about a kilometre away, slightly closer to the Temple. She noticed several figures running toward their location, so she waved at them before turning back and pulling Luke out of the pod. Even before she had climbed into the pod back on the ship, Luke had put himself into a healing trance that he had not come out of yet. She used the Force to extract him from the pod and laid him on the ground just as Tionne, Kam Solusar and Jysella Horn arrived with their lightsabers in hand, but unlit.

"What happened?" Tionne asked. Mara looked up to see identical looks of horror on all three faces above her. She looked back at Luke, noticing for the first time how extensively Luke had been beaten. His clothes were torn in a dozen places, each one showing patches of bloodied or slashed skin, his face was severely bruised, and a large area of his sandy blond hair was mottled with dried blood from a cut on his scalp.

"Krayt knew we were coming," Mara said, unable to stop the tears from rolling down her cheeks. "He infected Luke with some Vong poison. Jacen's in the other pod. We have to get Luke to him."

"I'll carry him," Kam said and clipped his lightsaber to his belt. Mara helped him hoist Luke onto his shoulder, and the four of them set off at a run toward the second pod.

As they got closer, Mara's heart sunk further into her chest as a painful realization was coming upon her. Eriana was sitting on the edge of the escape pod entrance with her head in her hands, flanked by Cilghal and Tiu Zax. Jacen was not in sight. She reached out with the Force trying to find him, maybe still in the pod, but all she sensed was Eriana's grief.

"Where is he?" Mara demanded as they finally reached her. "Where's Jacen?"

Eriana pulled her head out of her hands, looking at Mara with eyes ringed with red skin and tears. Mara felt her heart freeze inside her chest as she processed the fact that Eriana – one of the most emotionally controlled people she had ever known – was _crying_.

"It was seven against one," Eriana said. "He distracted them so I could get away. They took him prisoner."

Mara looked away from Eriana out into the jungle as if she might find some sort of inspiration there, but her mind felt like a block of ice.

"Mara, we should get Luke inside," Cilghal said. "I may be able to help."

She nodded absently and continued staring out into the jungle, barely noticing as everyone walked away from her and Eriana.

"Could you have helped him?"

"I don't know," Eriana admitted and held out her left arm, showing off a blaster bolt burn that seemed to have almost obliterated half her bicep muscle. "My arm took a pretty nasty shot and he was badly out numbered. They had a couple dozen blasters pointed at him and he was still recovering from the poison. It takes a while to fully recover from a poison that strong."

Mara turned around and walked toward the Jedi Temple without a word, not entirely sure if she believed the former Jensaarai Defender.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

A slow repeating clacking noise brought Jacen out of his slumber and alerted him to the presence of someone in his room. He slowly rose from the hard metal slab he called a bed and came face to face with the grey skull-like helmet of Darth Krayt. Aside from the ice blue left eye and fire red right eye, the only other thing Jacen noticed was that the door to his cell was open, allowing him the first light that he had seen in hours. Or possibly days. Time appeared to have no meaning in the dark little prison cell.

"I must congratulate you," Krayt said. His deep voice echoed in the small room, but Jacen rolled his eyes when he realized it was a Force trick. "It would have taken a considerable amount of skill for you to bypass my security with so many Jedi. Sacrificing yourself to let your friends escape was also quite admirable. I must say, as I underestimated Zonoma Sekot, I also underestimated you."

Feeling both unthreatened and unquestioned, Jacen merely sat back down on the metal bed and waited in silence.

"Your skills in combat and neutralizing the poison are quite impressive as well," Krayt continued. "I could make use of someone with your skills."

"Interesting Yuuzhan Vong armour you're wearing," Jacen finally broke his silence. "I've never seen that breed. Is it infused into your skin?"

"We are kindred spirits, young Solo," Krayt said, ignoring Jacen's question as easily as the Jedi had ignored him. "Trained by the same master. You, and you alone among the Jedi, understand the real truth."

Despite wanting to ignore Krayt's rhetoric, curiosity got the better of Jacen. "And what truth is that?"

"Vergere's truth, of course." Krayt smiled under his spiky grey helmet. "She taught you as she once taught me."

"She didn't teach me to build a fleet and massacre innocent lives," Jacen argued. "She taught me to help people."

"You and I both know that help is defined by the one giving it," Krayt said with a sly grin. "Helping is _exactly_ what I am doing. I am liberating people from the insanity of the Jedi who claim to protect them. Come with me."

Krayt disappeared through the door, leaving Jacen little choice but to follow him. While Krayt's minions had taken his lightsabers, they had not threatened him in any way since he surrendered. He followed the armour clad Sith Lord until they entered an otherwise empty enclosed tram. The tram accelerated to its cruising speed before Krayt spoke.

"What do you know of galactic economics?"

"Only the basics I learned in school," Jacen said. "Supply and demand dictates price, invisible hands providing direction for flow of goods and services to markets that need them. That sort of thing."

"Allow me to fill in your education," Krayt said. "True economic prosperity can only be reached during a state of socio-political stability. While war is great for spending, it is not so great for consumer confidence. When the populations of planets feel it is safe to trade between them, they waste fewer resources on destroying each other and focus on social and economic growth. Credits travel, bringing prosperity to places where military regimes would only leave them with stockpiled tools of destruction, empty factories and desolate fields."

The tram slowed to a stop and Jacen followed Krayt out of it through a series of brightly lit grey corridors until they came to a black door, using those moments of silence to ponder Krayt's words. Krayt pressed his human thumb onto the panel beside the door and a red light turned green. The door disappeared into the right side of the door frame and the unlikely pair entered the room. Two paces in, the door silently slid shut behind them.

The room was painted entirely black and the only light filtering in was from the planet below. Jacen followed Krayt's lead and walked up to the large transparisteel windows where they gazed down at the planet Jacen recognized as Duros as it slowly spun beneath them. A trio of ships with the now-familiar Bogan Empire logo on the hull performed a strafing run on the planet below, creating tufts of dirt kilometres wide where the turbolaser blasts had disappeared milliseconds before.

"The dispute between the Jedi Order and the Galactic Alliance is as futile as it is pointlessly destructive," Krayt finally continued his lecture. "The Jedi claim to be guardians of peace in the galaxy, but their lack of vision has left more people suffering in poverty than ever while they live in the spoiled luxury of their great tower. Tell me, young Solo, how can the people of the galaxy ever persevere if they are too busy fighting wars with the Jedi Order?"

"It takes two sides to start a war," Jacen said evenly. "The Jedi uphold peace. Usually it is the Sith that have a problem with that."

"If the Jedi aren't strong enough to keep challengers to their rule at bay, the laws of evolution require them to make way for someone who is."

"Evolution?" Jacen mocked. "Is that what you call wiping out innocent people, like the entire Hapes cluster? You think _that_ is going to fix the problem of widespread galactic poverty? I hate to break it to you, but Hapes was a pretty wealthy cluster until you massacred it. I may not know much about economics, but I do know you need credits to come from somewhere, and Hapes had plenty of that to contribute. By destroying it, you set your goals back."

"_Eliminating opposition to a unified galactic economy_ is my goal," Krayt barked back. "Do not even try to protest the innocence of Hapes to me, young Solo. Hapes would never conform nor contribute to anything outside their borders unless it brought them more wealth. A message had to be sent to the clusters that exclusion will not be tolerated in my new economy. The Imperial Remnant and Republic both caved to our might and will see the greatest era of prosperity the galaxy has ever known. Hapes and any other sectors supporting the destructive efforts of the Jedi have to be eliminated for the greater good of prosperity. The Jedi are fighting a lost cause that will drag more and more delusional idealists into a war that will only result in their own undoing. It is to _everyone's_ long term benefit to join me!"

"You think that by getting the entire galaxy under your umbrella of control, you can save it by creating an economic powerhouse to lift everyone out of poverty? A totalitarian government where everyone contributes and benefits as you dictate? You're no better than Palpatine."

"Palpatine's Empire brought an age of unity the likes of which the galaxy had never seen before."

"That wasn't unity," Jacen spat. "That was slavery disguised as patriotism and xenophobia. That is no way for people to live in a free and just society, and mark my words; they will want freedom from your regime no matter how much you try to convince them they don't."

"The nerfs must be herded, my young Jedi," Krayt said with a forced trace of humility. "Like you, I, too, was a Jedi Knight. I do not want to see people suffer. I want them to thrive, and I will bring them what they need to achieve greatness! Do you think the impoverished people want freedom? They want to know they will have their next meal, they want a roof over their heads, and they want to be free of war. _That_ is what I will bring them. _That_ is what the Jedi are incapable of bringing them because they are too weak. Would you rather bring about prosperity with a fire to cleanse the galaxy, or rip it apart in another war five years from now? How much more suffering are the Jedi willing to put everyone through before they realize they've always had it wrong?"

Jacen looked away from Krayt's determined face and focused on the planet below. What bothered him most about Krayt's words was not that the Sith Lord seemed utterly convinced about the end result of his crusade; it was that he had no solid argument against it. It _did_ hold a measure of sense to it, as insane as Krayt's methodology sounded. Even though Krayt had started it, war was ripping the galaxy apart for yet another time in Jacen's short life, and it was true: Everyone was suffering because of it. But were the Jedi being weak really what drove the Sith to take over through some invisible economic force or law of evolution? In standing up for what they believed was right, were the Jedi making things worse? Unable to come to any answers, something Krayt said came back and started nagging at Jacen's mind, so he turned back to the Sith Lord.

"You said that I would understand because we were both trained by Vergere," Jacen said. "Why do you think anything she said would justify..._this_?" He pointed at the bombardment of the planet below and scowled at Krayt.

"I thought it would be obvious," Krayt said, folding his arms across his chest. The Yuuzhan Vong created arm hung a bit longer than the human arm, sticking out an extra hand length past his elbow. "Long before the Yuuzhan Vong invaded this galaxy, I was captured and experimented on by their shapers. As she had come to you in an hour of need, she came to impart her wisdom on me. She taught us to believe in ourselves and do what needs to be done. She taught us that by releasing ourselves to our will we can seek the true power within. She taught us the way of the Sith."

"Sith?" Jacen laughed and took a few steps away. He shook his head and turned back to face Krayt. "Are we talking about the same Fosh? Vergere was a Jedi. Her heart was as pure as any Jedi I've known. I don't know what you think she taught, but what she taught _me_ was how to trust myself to know what the right thing to do was, not to commit genocide for the sake of a socio-economic _theory_. I trust in my heart, my friends and my family to guide me on the right path, not some egotistical need to dominate the galaxy through brute force under the guise of eliminating poverty."

It was Krayt's turn to chuckle at Jacen's description of Vergere's teachings. "I can sense the greatness and power her wisdom released within you, but something tells me we could stand here and debate philosophy all day and get nowhere. I'd like to suggest a different topic of conversation."

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize we were having a _conversation_," Jacen said sarcastically. "Since when did casual conversation topics include embracing moral ambiguity to justify genocide? Maybe we should have some tea and biscuits to go with our chat on the merits of mass torture and disembowelment!"

Krayt chuckled again and retreated to the wall by the door. He pressed a button and issued a command that Jacen did not hear.

"Ordering my execution?" Jacen asked coldly when Krayt returned to the window.

"Ordering tea," Krayt said. "And biscuits. We may as well enjoy social conventions when the opportunity arises."

The door opened and two soldiers came through first carrying a metre-square table followed by two more with a chair each. By the time the table and chairs were in position, a man with a white cook's outfit on entered with a tray including a pot of steaming water, some cups, biscuits, and tea bags. He disappeared without a word and, when the door closed, the Jedi and Sith were again cast in near darkness.

"Please have a seat," Krayt gestured for Jacen to sit opposite of him as he took his own chair. His oversized armoured frame dwarfed the normal-sized chair and made the tea set in front of him look absolutely miniscule. If they were in any other situation, Jacen may have felt inclined to laugh at the disproportionally large man. "I expected a very different conversation. I thought you had already learned the truth that I had, not that you would remain stubbornly blind to it."

"If you mean you're not going to convince me to join sides with the guy who wiped out my home and the Hapan people," Jacen said as he took the seat. "You're frakking right."

"You are already more Sith than you know," Krayt said sadly, pouring the hot water into a cup as if Jacen had not spoken. "Perhaps time will help you see this. But we digress. I instead want to discuss a mutual problem we share. There is a power in the galaxy that will undermine either of our efforts. Regardless if either the Jedi Coalition or the Bogan Empire is successful in the long run, this power will be a cancer threatening to destroy our successes from within our respective empires. Corruption does not bode well for either of our visions, and I would like to eliminate it. This will be your task."

Jacen rolled his eyes as he picked a tea bag at random and poured his own cup. "And who might this mysterious entity be that will inspire me to do this gruesome task for you?"

Krayt took a sip from his cup and smirked, pausing for dramatic effect as Jacen raised his cup to his lips. "The Black Sun."

Jacen stopped and put the cup back down. He placed his right elbow on the table and lowered his forehead onto his palm. After massaging his forehead and temple with his fingers for a few moments he finally looked back up at Krayt.

"This is a joke, right?" Jacen asked, spreading his arms wide. "If I didn't witness your troops slaughtering innocent people in the Hapes Cluster and your ships trying to blow up Zonoma Sekot, I'd swear someone was pulling the galaxy's biggest prank on me right now."

"This is no joke," Krayt said defensively. "The Black Sun has returned to power and is spreading its seeds of corruption. We must stop them."

"Black Sun was resurrected by Czethros, what, fifteen years ago?" Jacen asked. "It was wiped out. Again. I should know. I was on the front lines moppingup the sleeper cells that were waiting to take over key locations around the galaxy. My brother came up with the plan to route them out. Czethros was locked up tight in a chunk of carbonite and chucked into a sun. There is no more Black Sun."

"So well informed, yet so clueless," Krayt muttered. He stood up and returned to the window, tea cup still in hand. He took a sip of tea and collected his thoughts for a minute before speaking. "Czethros lacked vision. He knew nothing of the true nature of what the Black Sun was supposed to be. He sought power where there was none in a way that was destined to fail. His ambitions to seek political power were nothing short of greedy. Do you know what made Prince Xizor so powerful?"

"Falleen pheromones and a fancy droid to screw?"

"Xizor's greatest success came from _not_ seeking political power," Krayt continued, ignoring his guest's flippant remark. "His influence came from corrupting the politicians and officials through blackmail, extortion, and other means. Whoever this new underlord is understands this and is doing it _right_. I have found ample evidence of even my own Bogan Warriors being extorted by this new underlord and I have had little success counteracting it. I should tell you, the corruption I learned about in the Jedi Coalition is considerable as well. I came across some particularly juicy information about a particular Jedi Master when I captured and tortured one of their vigos."

"Yeah, I'm sure you did."

"Did you know the Prince of Hapes committed adultery?" Krayt asked as innocently as he could manage with his gruff voice.

"I'm sure you knew that since _you planned the whole thing_," Jacen screamed, jumping up from his chair and knocking it over. "She was an innocent girl that did not deserve the hell you put her through! I can't _believe_ the lengths you went to bend Carys to your will. It was bad enough that you manipulated her, but did you have to send assassins after her, too? She was as much a _victim_ as I was!"

A flicker of genuine confusion emanated from Krayt that Jacen did not expect. When he finally spoke to the seething young man before him, his voice lacked any of the confidence and superioristic tones he had been using.

"What are you talking about, Solo?"

"The whole ploy to take over the Hapes Consortium," Jacen said, his anger withering slightly. "Using the clone of Tenel Ka. I understand using her to get the throne out from under Tenel Ka, but I'm surprised you didn't train her in the Force better. I'm just glad that she took your assassin out with her."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Krayt said slowly, his confusion both evident and genuine. "None of my assassins have set foot on Hapes, and I have made no political effort to take over Hapes. I wanted the cluster destroyed from the start."

Krayt's genuineness diffused Jacen's anger further. "Then...then who arranged the whole thing with Carys?"

Krayt merely lifted an eyebrow and stared at Jacen. The Force lent him insight to answer his own question: The Black Sun.

"If you want to find the ones truly responsible for the death of this apparently innocent Carys you hold so dear," Krayt said, his voice regaining confidence. "You know what you have to do. I ask you, young Solo, what motivates you the most? Do you want to reduce the corruption that brought an end to your friend and help build an empire – Jedi or Bogan – that will bring peace and prosperity for generations to come, or do you want to seek true revenge for the dead of Hapes by attacking me? Or, _justice_, if that's what your conscience demands you call it."

Jacen turned away from Krayt and walked about two paces before he realized he was about to walk into the black wall. He leaned against the wall for a moment collecting his thoughts and seeking guidance in the Force. He could attack Krayt now, avenging the deaths of the Hapans and all the others who had fallen in his quest. Or he could use Krayt's resources to pursue Black Sun and find the truth behind Carys's death. Maybe it was Krayt that orchestrated everything. Maybe it was Black Sun behind Carys. But in his heart, he knew vengeance was wrong, even in the name of justice. He closed his eyes and tried to piece together his possible futures.

Carys and the Hapes cluster were already dead. Nothing could change that. There was no way he could stop Krayt and his entire army alone, even if he somehow overpowered Krayt in the next five minutes. Someone would still pick up Krayt's mantle. There was only one path left for him, one path that he could make a difference on. Everything pushed him in one direction and he reluctantly accepted the will of the Force. He finally turned to face Krayt.

"Where do I start looking for the leader of Black Sun?"

Krayt extracted a data card from a crevice in his armour and tossed it across the room. Jacen caught it deftly and looked it over. He used the Force to extract some insight into the contents and closed his eyes as the rush of data flashed into his mind.

"There is a regional governor on Tepasi that has been performing actions unbefitting of our cause," Krayt said. "He..."

"Has been suspected of smuggling weaponry into the black market and has been seen by your spies consorting with some shady figures," Jacen finished from the knowledge he gleamed from the data card. "You suspect he's being manipulated by the Black Sun and can provide information about his contacts."

"Remarkable," Krayt smirked. "I've never seen that particular skill before."

"Thank you for remarking," Jacen said coldly. "I'll need a fast ship, false credentials, credits, my lightsabers, access to your intelligence database, and lots of latitude."

"A ship, credentials, and your lightsabers will be no problem," Krayt agreed. "But I will provide the rest in the form of your greatest need: a partner."

"I'm working alone on this one," Jacen said. "Or I'm walking."

"Quite the statement for a lone unarmed being in the middle of a Bogan ship," Krayt said smugly. "Without oversight, you will simply return to your Jedi friends as soon as you leave. No, you will take one of my best assassins with you to ensure you carry out your side of this deal."

"I don't need your bloodthirsty dog to keep me in line," Jacen said. "I know the stakes here, and if I'm doing this, I'm doing it the Jedi way. I'm not going on a mission to leave a trail of bodies behind me with a loose cannon assassin at my side."

"I see," Krayt said. "Then I will be the bigger man and offer the first compromise: You will remain in command of the mission, and my assassin will follow your orders so long as you stay focused on the mission goals as I lay them out for you."

Jacen looked Krayt in the eye and knew this compromise was about as good as he could get.

"So long as I agree with the mission goals and am allowed to find the best means to achieve the same ends, I'm willing to accept this compromise."

"Deal," Krayt said with a grin. "Allow me to introduce your new best friend."

He gestured to the door and it opened on cue, allowing an angry Twi'lek with red and black tattoos entirely covering her scantily-clad and well-toned body.

"Her name is Zara."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-


	11. Distress

Onimi: Pretty girl and sound economic theory...who wouldn't fall for that? ;)

Chapter 9 - Distress [[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Mara watched from the corner of the infirmary as Cilghal worked with a 2-1B droid to prepare Luke for the Bacta tank. The Mon Calamari healer's initial assessment was similar to how Mara had been assessed at the start of the Vong war – whatever he was infected with was not contagious, but it was designed in a way that the human body was not strong enough to fight it even with the help of the Force. Something would be needed to counteract it properly.

Cilghal had explained that her hope was that the Bacta would help Luke fight it until the Yuuzhan Vong shaper she had befriended could get there to assess the blood and tissue samples they had taken from him. She watched helplessly as her husband placed the mask over his face and sat onto the rig that would lower him into the tank.

She had spoken to him briefly when they forced him out of his healing trance. He briefly explained what Krayt had told them and that Jacen knew how to heal him. He also told her that, if he didn't make it, Kam should be the one to lead whatever is left of the Jedi.

Mara watched as they lowered him into the tank, giving Luke the emotional equivalent to a squeeze of the hand through the Force. As soon as his toes touched the Bacta she felt a flare of pain shoot up his body.

"Stop!" Mara shouted, startling Cilghal. She pointed at Luke, who, now knee deep in the Bacta, had begun convulsing in pain. She used the Force and pulled Luke out of the rig, lifting him right out of the tank and lowered him to one of the operating tables near Cilghal. She grabbed a towel and rushed over to him, wiping off the residual Bacta on his legs.

"The poison spores must be sensitive to the Bacta," Cilghal said as she arrived with her own towel. They finally removed the Bacta and Luke stopped jerking, but was once again unconscious. "I'll run some tests."

Mara squeezed Luke's hand and looked at him with a far too familiar sensation of helplessness sitting in the pit of her stomach.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Jaina spent the trip back to the _Falcon_ in a semi-conscious Jedi recovery trance trying to eliminate the effects of the alcohol in her system. Thinking back at the night, she realized she drank a _lot_. The Force was about the only thing that had kept her going, and she barely remembered using it to sustain herself. While Lowie did her the favour of not making a comment on her state, part of her did not know if she needed to hear something. Maybe she needed someone other than herself to tell her how reckless she had been so it would sink in. She _let_ herself get abducted because she was too drunk to do anything about it, and Talon Karrde died because of her.

[I received a data burst from Eriana about an hour ago,] Lowie finally broke the silence as she showed signs of increased alertness. [The mission failed. Eriana, Luke and Mara returned to Zonoma Sekot.]

Jaina suddenly became alert.

"Wh-what about Jacen?" she demanded. "Are Kyp and Octa okay?"

[Jacen was last seen being taken captive,] Lowie growled as he brought the rented hovercar down to the drop off point at the spaceport. [Kyp and Octa were not as fortunate.]

Sometime later Jaina felt her shoulder being shaken and she turned and looked up to face her mom from the pilot seat of the _Falcon_. She vaguely remembered returning to the ship, doing a pre-flight check and requesting clearance from the spaceport, but until the gentle jarring from her mom, she had been on autopilot. She looked up to see the sad, concerned brown eyes looking down at her and wondered how pitiful her own eyes looked.

"I'm worried about you," Leia said in her stern motherly voice. "You're not yourself."

"I'm fine," Jaina said and turned back to configuring the repulsors to the specific gravity of Iope for a more efficient launch. "Just a lot on my mind."

"We'll get Jacen back," Leia assured her. "Something tells me he's more valuable to Krayt alive than..." Her voice trailed off, not wanting to say the word that seemed to be coming up far too often in the last couple weeks.

Lowie chose that moment to open the door.

[I need to contact General Stragoron or Cooper,] Lowie growled. [Head to the Primus Goluud system. There is an unmonitored Holonet relay there we can hack into and borrow for a short time.]

"Sure," Jaina said and pointed to the navicomputer behind her. "Mom, can you take care of that?"

"Jaina..."

"Millennium Falcon, _you are cleared_ _for departure,"_ the comm interrupted whatever Leia was going to say. The control tower provided her with more details on her exit vector and Jaina brought the ship out of the berth. The cockpit remained silent, save the operational sounds of the ship, until they cleared the gravity well of Iope and jumped to hyperspace.

"It'll take an hour until we get there," Jaina said and got up. "I'm going to take a nap."

"Jaina, we need..."

"Wake me in twenty," Jaina interrupted and walked out of the cockpit.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

_Slave IV_ landed in the sole docking bay of the Stex City Space Port on Gerrenthum, a small out of the way mining town that rarely saw visitors willing to spend more than a couple hours with their boots on the ground. Boba nodded approvingly as Han set the ship down with hardly a bump and unclipped his crash webbing.

"You were always a hell of a pilot, Solo," Fett said. Already wearing his famous Mandalorian armour, he opened a locker and extracted his helmet. "I'm just glad I witnessed it first hand before I die."

"Yeah, we can all die happy now," Han growled. Fett had been talking his ear off the entire trip, explaining how his ship operated. Han learned it all quickly, and he was about ready to throttle the chatty Mandalorian, but he still didn't know where their end destination was. "Let's get the cargo and get off this rock."

"I find myself in agreement," Fett said and put his helmet on. As if a switch was flipped, his voice dropped in tone and he took on a more menacing body language. "Keep alert."

"Do I get a blaster?" Han asked.

"DL-88," Fett said, grabbing a blaster in a belt holster from the locker and tossing it to him. "Couldn't find a 44 on short notice."

Han caught the belt and strapped it on. He pulled the blaster out, noticing that the sight on the front had been filed off. He knew that was important, but he could not remember _why_.

"You coming?"

"Yeah," Han said. "Right behind you."

The unlikely pair walked out of the spaceport without so much as a security check to slow them down. In fact, the door to the bay they landed in opened out right to the dusty dirt road that was completely devoid of vehicles, save one load lifter slowly driving away from them. About ten tightly packed buildings spanned out on their right, and another ten were scattered across the street at varying distances from the road.

Fett marched across the street and up to the second closest house. He hammered his fist on the old wooden door, and Han heard someone scrambling inside to reach the door.

"Who is it?" an elderly voice called out.

"Today's customer."

The door opened up to the smiling weathered old face of a human with grey hair and a patch over the left eye. His knotted old fingers grabbed the door frame for support as he struggled to balance himself while opening the door with is cane hand.

"Power packs or explosives today, Mr Fett?" the man asked, still smiling.

"Explosives," Fett said. "Big explosives."

"Right place, as always," the man said. He turned around and hobbled away on his cane down the hallway that went straight through to the back of the house. Fett and Han followed, and Han closed the door behind him.

"Bit old for an arms dealer," Han muttered just loud enough for Fett to hear.

"I've been using Harold since I was born," Fett said. "He supplied my dad with the best weapons, and he's very discrete."

"Expensive, too!" Harold said happily. He reached the back wall and stood next to a radiating heater against the wall. Fett stepped up right beside him and turned around. Han stared at them from several feet back.

"Well, get over here, son," Harold said, tapping the floor with his cane. "Waiting for me to die? Not going to happen today, I tell you."

Han reluctantly stepped closer, and when he was close enough, Harold pressed a hidden button on the side of the radiator and the floor began to drop. Specifically, a two metre square area, which was quickly replaced by a sliding panel above them, casting them into darkness. The lift dropped about ten metres before it stopped, and a door slid open behind Han, showering them with light. He turned around and saw one of the biggest armouries he had ever seen. As far as he could see, there were rows upon rows of everything from holdout blasters to E-webs, from concussion grenades to proton torpedoes, and even a pair of quad turrets that looked like upgraded versions of the ones on his ship. His ship...if he could only remember the name...

Fett pushed past Han and began walking into the armoury without hesitation and Harold hobbled along behind him.

"Grab a cart, Han," Fett pointed to one of the five wagons beside the lift entrance. He began taking products from the shelves. "I'll need rocket propelled grenades for my wrist launcher, fuel canisters for the flame thrower, extra blaster power packs, and the big stuff."

As Han pushed the cart along, Fett dropped the items into it, but at the mention of the big stuff, Harold and Fett stopped and stared at each other.

"You've never wanted that before, Boba," Harold said in a condescending tone.

"My days of bounty hunting are at an end, old friend," Boba put an armoured hand on Harold's shoulder. "It's time to do something bigger."

Harold nodded absentmindedly. "The degeneration is worsening?"

Fett merely squeezed the man's shoulder and removed his hand from it. Harold's eyes lit up like fireworks.

"Then let's make the biggest bang of all! I've been saving this for a special occasion."

Harold pushed past Fett and worked his way to the far end of the room, leading them past all the proton torpedoes, heavy weaponry, and suits of battle armour to a relatively open area. Han noticed that there appeared to be an irising hatch in the ceiling above him, and a lift under his feet. If he were to guess, they were probably directly under the space port, which would explain how Harold could move weapons in and out of the underground facility.

Harold waved a hand over an inconspicuous area of the wall and a keypad appeared which he pressed some numbers into. The wall slowly parted along a formerly invisible seam, descending into the floor and ascending into the ceiling to reveal...

"Wow," Han said, examining the head-sized explosives racked up several layers deep in the hidden compartment. "I thought this stuff was impossible to find."

"Been cornering the market," Harold said with a twinkle in his eye. "A couple have slipped out in the last few years, but I've been saving these for my best customer."

"We'll take 'em," Fett said. "All of 'em."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Mara had not left Luke's side since she had pulled him out of the Bacta tank. Nom Yomnom, a Yuuzhan Vong shaper, had come to help Cilghal with her analysis of Luke's infection. She came to the conclusion that Mara had already suspected – it was a heavily modified version of the spore that she had been infected with, so heavily modified that they could not apply the usual healing methods. Nom had promised to continue working on a solution, but she did not seem overly optimistic.

To Mara's surprise, Eriana had stayed close to them, too. Tekli had bandaged the blaster wound on her bicep with a concentrated Bacta patch held on with a strap of white gauze. The former Jensaarai seemed out of place, pacing back and forth across the far end of the infirmary as if she was expecting something to happen. Mara felt like the younger woman was avoiding her, but at the same time could not figure out why she was still there when the Jedi Temple offered plenty of space for her to be anywhere _but_ there. Feeling a mix of emotions between anger and helplessness, Mara finally decided to vent. She got up and approached the Black Vornskr leader.

"Isn't there something you should be doing instead of pacing around here?" Mara growled, stopping Eriana in her tracks. The blond woman turned and looked at Mara as if she had been caught by her mother while sneaking cookies out of the kitchen, but her face went from one of surprise to angry in an instant.

"Put him in carbonite," Eriana snapped in response to Mara's tone. "It should stop the spores from spreading and buy him some time. Salliche is the nearest ag planet I can think of with a carbonite chamber. They use it to freeze produce for transport to the outer rim so it doesn't waste. I have a contact there if you want it."

Mara blinked in surprise, both at the fact that it was a good idea and that Eriana was thinking of ways to help. Knowing the amount of responsibilities Eriana had as leader of the Vornskrs, Mara felt a bit ashamed about her initial assessment of the other woman since she was spending her time trying to figure out ways to help her husband.

"That's a...really good idea," Mara said softly. "I'll discuss it with Cilghal."

She turned around and took a step away when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked back to see Eriana's bright green eyes blazing with an intensity that wasn't there a minute ago.

"You're right. There is something I should be doing," Eriana said, looking more like her normal self – determined, driven, and dangerous. "I'll get him back. Jacen's the only real friend I've ever had, and I'm not going to let him rot in some Sith Lord's jail. If I have to fight through the entire Bogan army with nothing but my lightsabers, I promise I'll bring him back to heal Luke. The Jedi need Skywalker as much as I need Jacen, so as far as I'm concerned, there's only one thing _to_ do."

Seeing the change in Eriana sparked something in Mara, and she put a hand on Eriana's shoulder in return. She felt her worry and fear melt away, exposing the core of herself she had always drawn upon to survive and thrive in every part of her life. She felt herself becoming the Emperor's Hand once again.

"You've never had a family, have you?"

"He's the closest thing to a brother that I've ever had," Eriana said, her eyes glittering with ferocity that Mara knew was reflected in her own gaze. "As far as I'm concerned, you're all my family."

"Then let's put it back together."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Jaina woke up in her bunk on the _Falcon_ and rested for a moment as she felt the familiar dull throb of the hyperdrive purring through the ship. Through the open door she overheard everyone laughing, talking and making clanking noises that made her realize it must be meal time. She looked at her wrist chrono and she jumped out of bed. She slept _six hours_?

"Good morning," Ben snickered when he noticed her enter the crew area. "Nice hair."

"I thought you were going to wake me before we arrived at Primus Goluud," Jaina said irritably, ignoring the jab.

"We've already moved on," Danni said. "Have some dinner; Lowie did a great job on the meal."

[Thanks,] Lowie barked.

"You should've seen it," Erinn said with a twinkle in her eye as she handed Jaina a plate. "Ben, Danni and I were out on the hull in space suits tying the communication system into the Holonet transceiver when a space slug jumped out of the transceiver and tried to bite Ben's head off."

"It was only about this big," Ben laughed, holding up a finger. "It just kinda got stuck on my helmet and made this growling sound that echoed like crazy."

"You should've seen Ben running around screaming on top of the _Falcon_!" Danni said. "You'd think it was gnawing his brain out the way he was flailing around."

"Lowie and I were in the cockpit trying to figure out what the commotion was," Leia continued. "All we heard was laughing and screaming through the radio."

[It's like they were attacked by clowns,] Lowie chuffed.

"Was there any news on finding Jacen?" Jaina asked, intentionally bringing a somber tone to the room. Everyone stopped laughing and avoided eye contact with her, save her mother.

"Nothing new," Leia admitted. "Eriana and Mara barely got off Krayt's command ship with Luke. He's been infected with a Yuuzhan Vong poison, similar to the one Mara was infected with at the beginning of the Vong war. They're going to put him in stasis until they can learn more about it."

"Eriana and Mara are both looking for Jacen," Danni continued. "They know he's the best chance of saving Luke."

Jaina reached out to her brother on their twin bond, but got no response from him. Either he was unconscious, or was blocking her. She could still sense _something_ from him, enough to know he was alive, but that was it.

"Where are we going?"

"Directly to where Karrde told us we'll find Wedge," Leia said. "Half way between Odik and Byss. Lowie is being recalled to the Vornskrs to help out while Eriana's looking for Jacen, and Ben is going with Mara. Wedge should be able to provide them with a ship, and the rest of us will see what we can do to help Wedge get the fleet back into the fight."

Jaina walked over to the selection of prepared food and used the Force to relocate a large chunk of meat onto her plate, ignoring the rest of the offering.

"I'll be in the cockpit," she said and disappeared in that direction.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-


	12. Unholy Alliances

Onimi - I figure it could be a common name...how many people share your own name? And I thought it sounded funny :)

Sioux - I figured it would be funny to have a Luke-in-a-box at some point, so I went that route. A friend suggested it to me. Jaina needs something. I don't even know what at this point. She's a mess.

Chapter 10 - Unholy Alliances [[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

To Jaina's surprise, as the visage of the mottled blue tunnel of hyperspace dissolved into pinpricks of the densely packed stars characteristic to the deep core, the outlines of a giant Mandalorian battle cruiser and several thousand other capital ships greeted her. Happy to finally have found some good news, Jaina flicked the switch to broadcast the _Falcon's_ IFF code and pressed the PTT button on the control stick.

"Allied fleet, this is Colonel Jaina Solo aboard the _Millennium Falcon_ requesting clearance to dock wherever the hell Admiral Antillies is."

[Smooth,] Lowie barked sarcastically from the co-pilot's seat.

"Shut up, you walking carpet," Jaina said with a smile.

"Millennium Falcon_, please proceed to dock at hanger bay 421 on the _Screaming Ewok," A voice returned over the communication system. "_Docking procedures are being transmitted on this frequency. Please confirm receipt."_

"Transmission received," Jaina said, seeing the instructions appear on the console beside her. "_Millennium Falcon_ proceeding on designated course."

On their approach, Jaina took a few moments to look around and assess the status of the fleet. Next to the enormous ship dominating the middle of the fleet were two super-class Star Destroyers with what looked like shipyards completely encompassing them and several other ships. Thousands of other ships ranging from old Nebulon-Bs and Corellian Corvettes to Mark III Imperial Star Destroyers and Bothan attack carriers held a loose spherical formation, all ships angled to provide the largest defensive fire array away from the _Screaming Ewok_. As they traveled along the one side of the _Ewok_ toward the hanger bay, Jaina noticed that the Super Star Destroyer they could still see was undergoing a refit of sorts to the outer edge of the giant arrowhead, but neither her nor Lowie could determine what the refit was about. They noticed other ships, mostly Star Destroyers, undergoing similar modifications.

"_Millennium Falcon_, you're drifting," the voice of the control person caught Jaina off guard, so she corrected her course and guided the ship into the hanger. As they flew through the mag-field lights, the hanger bay lights flickered on, revealing an entirely empty cavern. As Jaina settled the ship down and noticed the highly polished floor and otherwise vacantness of it, she figured she may be the first person to put a ship down in this hanger.

After completing the shutdown procedure, Jaina and Lowie made their way to the boarding ramp where everyone else had already exited the ship. A nervous looking young man in uniform, who Jaina guessed to be less than half her age, was talking to Leia and Erinn, but mostly focused on Erinn. Jaina noticed a thin gold rank bar on his collar denoting an officer cadet.

"Is this everyone?" he asked, seeing Jaina and Lowie appear. Jaina looked around quickly and ran over the inventory: Ben, Erinn, Lowie, C-3PO, Leia, Danni and herself.

"I couldn't get anymore in the ship," Jaina remarked. "Broke the pry bar trying."

The young man looked at her skeptically, as if not sure how stupid she thought he was, but held his tongue and nodded. He turned on his heel and led them out of the hanger and into a conveniently located turbolift directly across the hall. They piled into the lift car, which was a tight fit for seven humans and a Wookiee. Somehow Jaina and Danni were stuck facing each other close enough to hug and spent the several tense minutes of silence trying to avoid looking at each other as they traveled to their destination.

The lift arrived and Jaina practically exploded out of it sideways, tumbling right into the chest of Admiral Wedge Antilles.

"I believe that is assault of a superior officer," Wedge said smartly before Jaina could recover from her embarrassment. "I understand you are familiar with the special way of handling insubordination the Wraiths use? It _is_ one of my favourites."

"Anything but that," Jaina said, her eyes growing with fear from the custom that included a ship wide broadcast. She had witnessed it once, and the sight of a quite drunk Kell Tainer waltzing naked with a stuffed Ewok was still burned into her mind from nearly half her life ago.

"I'll let you off this one time, Colonel," Wedge said severely, then pulled Jaina into a warm hug. "It's great to see you!"

Wedge exchanged hugs with everyone except Erinn and Ben, opting to shake their hands instead, and Threepio, whom he ignored.

They retreated to a conference room off the expansive main bridge where Jaina, Danni, Erinn, Leia and Threepio were ushered in. Lowie and Ben stopped to talk to Wedge outside, and Wedge appeared alone a few minutes later.

"Lowie and Ben are departing immediately," Wedge said to answer Jaina's questioning stare as he took his seat at the head of the large table. "Lowie was ordered to give me new communication codes to coordinate our efforts with the Vornskr if needed. However, I am damn happy to see you. Especially you, Danni. We need your help refitting the fleet."

"Looks like you've already got it well in hand," Jaina said, interrupting Danni's attempt to speak.

"No, they don't," Danni said, earning a nod from Wedge. "They're retrofitting superlasers and planetary shield emitters onto some of the ships. Those ships aren't designed for the configuration of the planetary shields, and I doubt the power requirements needed would allow you to use both systems."

"Now you know why I'm glad to see you," Wedge said with a grim smile. "As we've discovered, planetary power systems run on alternating current. Everything on the ships run off direct current, and the conversion is taxing our capacity. We've rigged the shield systems with capacitors so we can store up enough power to turn the shields on in bursts of about thirty seconds before they have to recharge. They should be able to block at least one shot from the super laser and give us a fighting chance against _one_ of their ships, assuming we can time it properly. The superlasers are another problem entirely. We're going off an early schematic of the Death Star for our designs, but it seems that they're from before the laser was perfected."

"I read an article on the Death Star lasers a few years back," Danni said. "One of the major problems they had was getting enough power to the focusing crystals before they discharged because the superconductive conduits couldn't handle the current and lost efficiency as they heated up."

"That sounds a lot like what someone else who is way smarter than I am said to me," Wedge said. "Can you fix it?"

"_They_ fixed it by replacing the conduits with ionized gas cylinders. You'd need to get a lot of an element like tornum or morthite, ionize it, _keep_ it in an ionized state, trap it in a conduit that you can pump the calibrated energy current through - like you would a signal through a fibre optic cable - and use focusing lenses to keep the energy going where you want it to. Anything less than that and you'll have energy leaking out in the wrong places and..."

"We already lost five good people on a test fire," Wedge said darkly. "Congratulations; I'm going to give you a field promotion of Colonel and command of this project. Anything you need, we'll do our best to get."

"I'll...consult with your team and get back to you," Danni said, somewhat surprised by her unexpected job offering.

"Major Daniels is running the project from his office in sector D-8, floor seventy, room 8162. I know, I know. It's a big ship. He can find you an office, too."

"I'll start walking," Danni said, standing up.

"You'll need this," Wedge took a small box out of his pocket and tossed it to her. She opened it to find a rank insignia for Colonel and a command access card. "Cadet Smark is waiting outside. He can direct you to Major Daniels's location."

Danni smiled and retreated from the conference room, leaving the rest of the Jedi with Wedge.

"Jaina, I'm going to need your team to find the stuff we need for this project," Wedge said. "I suspect you have a few of your dad's less-than-legal ship ident codes which would make the _Falcon_ ideal to sneak around to find the goods. Whatever Danni asks for, you're buying. Until our superlasers are operational this fleet is effectively out of the fight. I'll have you granted access to an untraceable credit account. Fifty million ought to do it."

"Wedge," Leia said gravely before Jaina could make a comment. "Superlasers? When did we become the Empire?"

"I don't like it either, Leia," Wedge said. "But we can't repel firepower of the magnitude that Krayt has at his disposal. My job is to come up with ways of beating Krayt, and I'm completely open to ideas if you have any better ones, but this is the best long term strategy I've got."

Leia merely shook her head with a neutral expression, leaving the question open as to what she was disagreeing with.

"Where did you find two _Executor_-class Star Destroyers?" Jaina asked.

"Ever hear of Yevetha?"

"I vaguely remember it when I was young," Jaina said. "I was, what, ten?"

"Younger than that," Leia said absently and nodded to Wedge to continue.

"Along with many other ships, the N'zoth captured three SSDs from the Empire's Black Fleet just after Palpatine's death. At the end of our skirmish, the fleet disappeared. Up until a month ago, nobody knew where they ended up."

"You just found them abandoned?" Leia asked.

"Pretty much right where they are now," Wedge shrugged. "Scared the hell out of us when we arrived, until we saw the energy readings were completely absent. The reactor cores were cold as space. We had packed up the shipyards when we left Belgaroth, left some debris behind to make it look like we blew them up, so we unpacked key parts and reassembled it around the two ships. Not even a skeleton left behind when we searched them. Took us most of the last month to get the reactor cores and engines back up and running."

"What about the third one?"

"The databanks on both ships were wiped clean," Wedge said. "Not even a captain's order to abandon ship left behind. We suspect they left two here and took the third one to wherever they were going, intending to come back for them. Scans of the area indicate no ion trails fresher than twenty years old have passed through here until we did."

Wedge's communicator chirped in his pocket and he took it out to look at the display.

"Leia, would you join me?" Wedge asked as he stood up. "Duty calls. I'll have quarters assigned to each you. Jaina, feel free to enjoy the amenities while we're waiting for Danni's update."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Reunited with his belongings and given a small but fast ship called _Fang_, Jacen departed Darth Krayt's command ship with everything he could have hoped for, and then some. The extra was the angry Twi'lek sitting beside him with a glare on her face that suggested she might want to eat his spleen for lunch and floss her teeth with his ligaments.

"Just to be clear on one thing," Jacen said as he completed the final preparations for a jump to hyperspace. "Krayt put me in command, not you. We do this the way I want it done, no exceptions. If you have a problem with that, there's a nice storage locker back there I can stuff you into for the duration of our trip."

"You will refer to him as 'Lord' or 'Darth' Krayt," Zara sneered. "He is the one among us worthy of the title of the Sith, and he will be honoured accordingly."

"I'll call him shik-face for all I care," Jacen said and pulled the lever, launching them into hyperspace. "I'm not one of you and as far as I'm concerned every last one of you should be stripped of the Force and exiled to a barren rock for crimes against life everywhere."

A low growl emanated from her throat and Jacen took that as a sign to continue annoying her.

"So what colour were you before you started all the body art?" Jacen asked casually. "You look like a blue to me. Or maybe a green. I hear the greens are the best dancers – want to give me a show to pass the time?"

Zara lashed out to slap him across the face, but he caught her arm at the wrist and bored his gaze into her eyes. He squeezed _hard_, putting the Force into his grip until he saw the pain in her eyes break through the wall she tried to keep between them.

"Krayt assured me that you would not be a loose cannon," Jacen said. "If I find that you and your anger are a liability on this mission, I will _remove_ those variables from the equation. Is that understood?"

"I understand," Zara said through gritted teeth. He released her wrist and she pulled it close to herself, massaging it with her other hand. "You are not like any Jedi I have met. You have hidden strengths I did not expect."

"The best strengths remain hidden until needed," Jacen said and relaxed into his chair. "If we're going to be working together, we may as well get to know a bit about each other. You want to start?"

"I hate Jedi," Zara said.

"Anything else?"

"I kill Jedi."

"That's it?" Jacen asked. "Where were you born? Who trained you? Do you do anything for fun?"

"What does it matter?"

"It matters because I want to know who I'm working with," Jacen said. "And there should be more about someone than what work they do. Tell me more about this Bogan Empire. I thought all of you would be following the way of the Sith with Darth titles for anyone who wipes their own nose with the dark side."

"Only Lord Krayt and his successor carry the title of the Sith Lords," Zara said. "The Bogan Empire brings the Dark Side back to its roots. We are the followers of the ancient tradition of darkness, using our power to forge our future."

"Who is the successor?" Jacen asked. _This could be vital intel if we need to take them down._

"Not even I know," Zara said. "He will be revealed when he is ready to take his place leading us in exterminating the Jedi."

"Lucky guy," Jacen remarked. "Any chance it's you? C'mon, you've got to be giving Krayt some side benefits to climb the company ladder."

Jacen could sense the anger radiating from her from over a metre away, and turned away so she could not see him smirk at her anger.

"How _dare_ you accuse me of subjugating our cause?"

"Temper, temper," Jacen chided her. "I could teach you some Jedi meditation exercises if you think they'll help."

"How about I just kill you?" Zara pulled her lightsaber from her belt and pointed it at him. "I can route out the leaders of Black Sun on my own."

"Can you also breathe vacuum?" Jacen asked in turn. "I've never seen a lightsaber fight in a ship this size that didn't result in a hull breach."

Zara replaced her lightsaber on her belt in a huff and crossed her arms, resolving to stare out the window at the hyperspace visage before them.

"I don't know why Lord Krayt recruited you," she muttered. "You are the most infuriating Jedi I have ever met."

"That's probably because I'm not chained to a wall with your lightsaber in my ribs," Jacen replied. "And you _really_ don't know why he wants me? I thought it was obvious from the minute I met him."

"What do you mean?"

"He's dying," Jacen said. "Or, more specifically, his Yuuzhan Vong armour is killing him. The parasites have been on his body for decades and are outgrowing his body's ability to sustain them. He needs me to remove them. Whatever he's been doing to sustain himself hasn't been working."

"How could you possibly do that?" Zara asked. Her angry facade dropped for a moment as her curiosity took over, replacing the angry scowl with a surprisingly pretty face.

"You know how most Force users have empathic powers with the Force?"

"Yes."

"I have that ability _outside_ the Force," Jacen explained. "There are many species with Force-derived empathy, but having it outside the Force is exceptionally rare. Somewhere in around one in twenty trillion, I've been told. Most people who do have it never get the training to develop it like I have and spend most of their life subconsciously learning to suppress it, but I've been able to use it to connect to Yuuzhan Vong biotech and other creatures in a way other Jedi can't because of the Yuuzhan Vong's inherent disconnect with the areas of the Force that the Jedi use. It's one of the ways that I'm able to neutralize Yuuzhan Vong poisons so effectively and train amphistaffs. Krayt realized this when I kicked his poison so quickly, and he knows I could tell the armour to walk off him if I wanted to. That's why he's trying to recruit me."

"You are lying," Zara exclaimed, her anger returning. "Lord Krayt is the strongest of us! Even you and your great Jedi Masters could not beat him."

"If that's true, why did he order you to keep me alive and close by at all costs? He doesn't want to lose his best chance at long term survival."

"Those orders were given in private." Zara's eyes narrowed dangerously. "How did you know about that?"

"I told you my empathy is an ability outside of the Force," Jacen smirked. "Not many Force users can detect it, especially the dark ones. Krayt seems to be one of the few who can. He had Jedi training at some point, so that's probably why. I could tell it amused him when he realized I was listening in."

"I have even less reason to trust you now, Jedi," Zara said. "Stay out of my head!"

Jacen merely sighed and shook his head.

"Zara, you can drop the act. I know you're just trying to keep up the image by pushing a Jedi around, but enough is enough. If we have to work together, we need to at least start pretending to get along otherwise when we start going after our real enemies they'll see us coming a kilometre away."

Jacen stared at her for several moments until she finally turned and looked at him. She avoided his gaze and focused on a dial on the panel somewhere between them, nodding with a hint of embarrassment peeking through her shell of pride.

"It is not easy for me. I was trained to hunt and kill Jedi, not work with them," She said. "For the sake of the mission I will..._try_ to accept you as a partner. But you must stop infuriating me! I am a Bogan assassin, not a sex slave or a dancer!"

"I'm sorry I riled you up," Jacen said. "I wanted to make sure you were going to follow your orders. I know anger is useful, but it has its time and place. This isn't one of them."

"I don't need Jedi lectures."

"And I don't need you," Jacen shot back. "I can do this mission with my own resources. As far as I'm concerned, you're nothing more than a cranky chauffeur."

"You wouldn't be able to kill me if you tried, Jedi."

"Well, that's certainly an interesting scenario I hope we don't face anytime soon," Jacen said enthusiastically. He reclined his chair and closed his eyes. He used the Force to begin entering his semi-asleep mode to remain alert while gaining rest. "The trip is another ten hours. I suggest you get some sleep before we arrive. We'll discuss the mission particulars in nine hours. G'night."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Eriana's contact on Salliche helped Mara load the giant crate into the _Jade Shadow_ and gratefully took a hundred-credit coin from her before disappearing. The farmer had been incredibly helpful and discrete putting Luke into carbon freezing without alerting even his own staff that the Jedi Masters were there. Together they had loaded Luke into a crate as a disguise and transported him back to the Tormin Grofreed spaceport in the capital city of Netassa. As the farmer drove away, Mara sat on a crate at the top of the boarding ramp with her LinkCom. She jabbed her finger on the small display screen and after a couple minutes the haunted face of Shada Dukal appeared.

"Mara, I'm glad to see you," Shada said. "I'm afraid I have some bad news."

"I heard about Talon," Mara said. "But I don't have time to grieve right now. I need your help."

"What happened?"

"Luke was infected with a Vong spore that is attacking his nervous system," Mara said. "I froze him in carbonite to slow the infection."

"I see," Shada said. "I'm sorry to hear that. Do you have any leads?"

"I need to find Jacen," Mara said. "He was captured on Krayt's command ship. Do you have any resources that could track it down?"

Mara noticed someone walking up to her ship and saw it was Ben. She waved him forward to join her and indicated he should close the ramp behind him.

"I do," Shada said. "Or I should say, I _did_. I had someone in the Bogan fleet dispatch office that was working on fleet composition efficiency and tracking. If anyone would know where any ship in that fleet is, it'd be her."

"But...?"

Shada grimaced. "She made contact with us to do a data drop on Tattoine at Targo the Hutt's palace. Yeah, Jabba's old place. Lately our best encryptions have been getting hacked so we've been doing data drops in person to move information around. The last we heard she made it to Targo's, but we haven't heard from her since she was supposed to meet her contact. We never heard back from either of them, but we did find out that she's being held prisoner for violating some of Targo's rules. He's very sensitive about what he lets anyone do in his palace. I'll transmit anything we have on the situation to you."

"There's something you're not telling me."

Shada stared at Mara for a full ten seconds, long enough that she began to wonder if the connection froze. Mara finally realized why Shada had hesitated, and her face went white.

"Ami?" Mara asked, a quiver in her voice. "Ami's your operative."

"Yes," Shada responded, confirming her fears.

"Mom?" Ben asked. He grabbed her arm and shook her, but she ignored him. "Mom, what is it? Who is Ami?"

"I'll look into it," Mara finally said, still ignoring Ben. "Thank you, Shada."

"May the Force be with you, Mara. You're going to need it."

Mara broke the connection and almost ran to the cockpit, Ben on her heels.

"_Mom!_ Who is Ami?"

"Someone I knew when I worked for Karrde," Mara said evasively, starting the pre-flight sequence for the ship with one hand while buckling up her crash webbing with the other. "Strap in and start reading that data package from Shada. We don't have any time to waste."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Mere minutes after the _Solo Quest_ arrived on the _Blaze of Glory_, Black Vornskr General Stragoron's personal command ship, Eriana stepped foot on the bridge with the assassin droid HK-47 in tow. She was given a wide berth as she marched right up to Stragoron and ordered him into his office for a meeting. Even though the scarred, white-haired General was half a metre taller than her and almost twice as broad, he knew not to question her when she had that intense, calculating look in her eye. If that was not concerning enough, the fact that she was wearing her Jensaarai armour told him that she was ready for battle – any battle. He followed her into his office and waited by the door for it to close. After putting the helmet she had been carrying on his desk, she walked directly up to the window and stared out it, her droid standing with its back to her in a protective manner, embracing an illegally modified blaster rifle.

"I take it the mission did not go well," Stragoron surmised.

"It's like they knew we were coming," Eriana said softly, still looking out the window. "They captured Jacen, poisoned Luke, and killed two other Jedi. We need to get Jacen back."

"Do you know...?"

"No," Eriana cut him off, her voice turning sharp. "We need to locate him. Contact General Cooper and have him bring his fleet to the Shumogi sector. Ask Generals Carver, Ulrand and Dollan to step up activity in their sectors and start expanding their coverage according to diversionary plan Omega-Seven-Eight. I want Pulastra to assault the Hemei IV Bakur mining operation and meet us at Shumogi. Have her steal as much of the precious metals as she can to cover the theft of some asteroids. Tell her to make sure they're rich in densely packed iron ore."

"What are we going to do?"

Eriana finally turned around, facing her General with a glint in her eyes that sent shivers down the old warrior's spine. "We're going to hit the Fondor shipyard."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Jacen absentmindedly twirled a small glass phial of liquid between his fingers as he read the mission briefing from Krayt's datacard at the back of the _Fang_'s passenger area. Directly behind the cockpit with only a half wall separating the two sections of the ship, the passenger area afforded virtually no privacy from other occupants. The only place to truly escape the company aboard the ship was the small refresher unit that doubled as a sonic shower. After he had taken a shower and eaten a standard ration bar for breakfast, he listened to Zara's gentle breathing as he examined the mission data.

The creak of her chair caught his attention and he realized that her erythematic sleep breathing had stopped before she stood up and stretched. He quickly tucked the phial into his jacket and looked up at her.

"Good morning," Jacen said warmly. "Care for some ration pack breakfast? It looks like we got the cheap ship without the kitchen unit."

Zara's scowl returned and she shook her head.

"You Jedi are weak, wanting hot prepared meals all the time," she said, digging out a ration pack from the nearest cabinet and tearing it open. She took a bite from it and tried to hide her gag reflex from her travelling partner with little success.

"By the way," Jacen said conversationally as he returned his gaze to the datapad. "Half the rations they gave us were Trandoshan standard. I put the human ones in the other cabinet while you were sleeping so we wouldn't get them confused."

"How do you expect me to trust you when you pull childish pranks on me all the time?" Zara demanded.

"Probably about the same way as you expect me to trust you when you go around insulting me all the time and ignoring the fact that I'm important, too," Jacen mused. "Shall we discuss the mission?"

"After my shower," Zara said. She disappeared into the 'fresher and five minutes later she reappeared in somewhat of a better mood. "You may now begin."

"The local governor of Tepasi, a mister Jem Virray, has been living somewhat out of the means of his salary," Jacen began. "It may have gone unnoticed but there have been repeated reports of weapons being stolen from the barracks despite repeated covert upgrades to the security systems. About two weeks after each batch of weapons being reported, a one Jem Virray has made a large purchase of various sorts. First one of those new handheld communication devices, a new sports speeder, a new holo-entertainment system..."

"Yes, yes, I get the idea," Zara interrupted. "Is there a point of your babbling?"

"Yes," Jacen said, as if to an insolent young padawan. "The point is that you need to understand what this guy has been doing so we can figure out the best way to catch him."

"We should infiltrate the resistance," Zara said, taking another bite of her wretched Trandoshan ration to maintain her stubborn pride. "We can gather intel and discover who the mole is in his organization."

"I was thinking of going the other way," Jacen said. "We need to find some luxury good that he wants and pose as a seller. Something exclusive that he can only get through us."

"What good would that do us? We need to find the mole, not make credits."

"Easy," Jacen said. "He's surrounded by guards all the time. It'll be hard to get to him. We'll use the exclusive item as bait to lure him out, kidnap him, and question him."

Zara smiled for the first time since Jacen had met her, an odd motion of her mouth that looked almost foreign to her face.

"That is a surprisingly good idea, Jedi. I might yet begin to like you."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-


	13. The Darkness Within

Chapter 11 – The Darkness Within

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The first clue that Jem Virray was not meeting a dealer of rare pre-Clone war Jedi lightsabers was when he entered the ship with the broker and saw only the bare seats of an empty passenger area. His second clue was when a Twi'lek woman covered in Bogan warrior tattoos entered from the cockpit area and blasted him into unconsciousness with a stream of blue energy summoned from her bare hand.

When he woke up, his arms were zip-cuffed to the handrails above the sitting area and his feet were tied to duracrete blocks that were too heavy for him to lift. Thankfully, the blocks were tall enough to be on the ground so he was not left hanging. In front of him were the 'broker' he had spoken to sitting upright and the Twi'lek lounging on the couch beside him lazily. Her scant outfit showed a lot of skin that normally would have enticed Jem, if he was not convinced he was about to die.

"Nice of you to join us," the broker said pleasantly. "Would you know why we are here, Mr. Virray?"

"I-I-I don't know," Jem stuttered. "I'm loyal to the Bogan Empire! I did nothing wrong!"

"If that's the case, then you will be free to go," the man said. "But I'm sure you understand that we need to verify your claims. Do you know something interesting about the Bogan Warriors, Mr Virray? They can sense when someone is lying. My friend here, as you can tell, is quite conveniently a Bogan Warrior. Do you think I should ask her if you're lying?"

Sweat began to pour down Jem's hairline. He could feel it trickling down his back, soaking his shirt, as he tried looking at her without staring at her chiseled abs or long red legs. She lazily turned her head toward him and he locked eyes with her.

"I-I don't know w-what you m-m-m-mean," Jem said, trying to look away from her startling yellow and red irises that looked like they could bore a hole through his soul.

"Oh, come on, Mr Virray, even I can tell you're lying," the man stood up and looked into Jem's fearfully widening eyes with a glare that turned into pure ice. "And I think you need to know something about me."

"W-wha-what's that?"

"I spent four months being tortured by the Yuuzhan Vong," he said. "I think I could _re-educate_ you on what you think pain is, if you'd like. I find pain can often help someone find the underlying truths they seek, if you understand my meaning."

The man sat back down on the couch and smiled warmly at his Bogan associate. "I think I could also find motivation to _not_ re-educate you if you think there is information that I might need to know."

"Yes, yes," Jem exclaimed. His legs began to tremble. "Th-this is about the w-weapons! The missing weapons!"

"Go on."

"O-one of my captains orchestrated it," Jem said. "Kept going around security."

The Twi'lek ignited her lightsaber and pointed it at Jem lazily. "Liar."

Jem started crying, his knees giving out on him and his weight settling on the zip ties around his wrists.

"Th-th-they t-t-told me they'd k-k-kill m-me if I t-t-talked!" Jem sobbed. "I c-c-can't!"

"And what do you think we were planning on doing to you when we found out you betrayed your Emperor?" The man asked, standing up again so their eyes met at the same level. "I'll make you a deal. You tell me everything I need to know, and you'll get a second chance to prove your loyalty. This meeting will not have happened and you get to go back to being a very faithful governor. I think that would be a very fair arrangement, wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes!" Jem exclaimed. "Very fair. Very loyal. I..."

"I want the names and affiliation of the people you supplied the weapons to and where I can find them." He leaned forward and lifted Jem's chin with one finger to force eye contact. "And if you give me the right information, I won't have a reason to come back and find you, will I?"

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The _Jade Shadow_ touched down at Mos Eisley's docking bay 83 with a flourish of sand spraying in every direction, contributing to the years of sandblasting everything on the planet seemed to suffer from. As soon as the ship was powered down and the post-flight checklist completed, Mara retreated to her small walk-in armoury and closed the door behind her. She removed her casual clothes and grabbed a small length of string from a shelf. She looked in the mirror at her determined expression and pulled her hair back, tying it in place with the string so it would be out of her way when things got ugly. She opened the cabinet that the mirror was hung on and selected a skin-tight dark crimson armoured jumpsuit that would provide her some impact resistance, but not impair her movements. After putting the jumpsuit on and stretching slightly to adjust the fit, she selected a vibro-knive and a hold-out blaster, each in holsters, and strapped one to each calf, then covered them with a pair of high leather boots that were just loose enough to provide her access to her weapons. Next she donned a utility belt which included various small explosives, a thermal detonator, rappelling line, slicing tools, and her communicator. She magnetically clipped her lightsaber to the back of the belt and stuck a DL-88 blaster in the holster. Her holdout blaster was strapped it to her forearm, and, finally, she selected a comfortable calf-length light brown leather jacket to cover her weapons.

Mara closed the cabinet door and caught her reflection in the mirror once again. She stared for a moment, noticing how old the reflection in the mirror looked – lines were starting to appear on her face, her hair was not as smooth and shiny as it had been in the past, and her eyes carried a weight that the Emperor's Hand never did. However, she did see one thing that never changed any time she had looked in the mirror – resolve. She knew that she would rescue Ami, and she knew she would get her nephew back to save her husband if it was the last mission she'd go on. She owed them that much.

By the time Mara reached the boarding ramp, Ben was already there with Artoo, himself in a smaller version of the armoured outfit with his Jedi outer robe over top.

"Ben, I need you to stay here with the ship," Mara said. Before he could protest, she continued as if she did not notice he was going to complain. "I'll give you more details as I'm en route. Artoo, stay and help him fly."

"You want me to fly the ship?" Ben asked, his previous objections forgotten. "By myself?"

"Yes," Mara said and punched the ramp release. "Stay on channel 12, encryption protocol Rodia-Four-Whyren. You'll be able to hear everything."

"What if you get captured?" Ben asked as Mara walked down the ramp and reached up to key in her lock code.

"If I get captured, take off and find Lowie," Mara said and pressed her code in to close it. "'Cause I'll be dead if that happens."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Jaina came across her mother on the way to a meeting in the war room two levels below the main bridge on the _Screaming Ewok_. She jogged ahead a couple steps and matched pace with her mom, giving her a smile.

"Any idea what this meeting is about?" Leia asked, noticing that a woman with Colonel rank bars supplemented with a Wing Commander emblem and a Rogue Squadron patch on her uniform a few paces ahead of them.

"No clue," Jaina replied and gestured to the woman Leia had noticed. "That's Alinn Varth. She's about the only surviving member of Rogue Squadron, except for me, Wedge, and Uncle Luke."

"Looks like Wedge made her commander of the fighter squadrons."

"And she's reconstructing the Rogues," Jaina pointed out. "Maybe I should try out."

Before Leia could comment, they reached the war room and Alinn turned around. She smiled at Jaina and Leia, letting them enter the room while she waited at the door. Jaina looked around the darkened room and saw the typical holographic display in the centre of the room and the coliseum-style bench seating surrounding it. She expected to see lots of people in attendance, but she only saw Wedge, Danni, and five others around the holographic display. Wedge gestured for them to come closer, so Jaina led the way to the centre of the large room.

"Thanks for joining us," Wedge said. "Jedi Masters Jaina and Leia Solo, I'd like you to meet my command staff:"

Wedge gestured to a short, angry-looking man with bright red hair standing beside Danni and only coming up to her shoulder. "Vice-Admiral Prus Onasi, commander of the _Executor_-class star destroyer _Telosian Jewel_."

He gestured to the next man, a Duros about Jacen's height who looked back at her with bright orange eyes. "Vice-Admiral Otac Stazi, commander of our other _Executor_-class star destroyer, _Moc'toc'nor_. I hope I didn't butcher the pronunciation."

Stazi smiled and shook his head as Wedge gestured to the next person in line, a young man a bit taller and younger than Jaina with blonde hair and striking blue eyes. She returned his smile easily and looked back to Wedge before she could start blushing from the handsome young man's attention. He gestured to the next two in line, two young women who looked remarkably like her friend Tenel Ka. "Commodores Marth Cerb, Trista Zel and Taryn Zel, commanders of the new Mark-III Imperial Star Destroyers. As you've probably guessed, the Zel sisters are Hapans."

"We escaped with what was left of our people," Trista said. "One hundred Battle Dragons and fifty Nova-Class battle cruisers are all that's left of Hapes. We were on a training mission under radio silence in the Transitory Mists while our people were annihilated."

"The Queen and Prince Isolder escaped as well," Leia said.

"Are you related to Tenel Ka?" Jaina asked. "You could pass as triplets."

"That's classified," Trista growled, her eyes narrowing at the young Jedi Master.

"I'm here," a bustling man approached Jaina and Leia from behind and smiled at them awkwardly, interrupting any continued questions Jaina might have about their lineage. He reached the holodisplay and held up a data card, his grin widening a bit further. Jaina noticed that the door was now closed and Alinn had silently joined them, standing between Wedge and Jaina. They all watched as the man tried putting the data card into the reader upside down, backwards, and finally upside-down and backwards before getting it right, all while swearing to himself under his breath.

"This is Major Arthur Daniels, the engineer working on the refit process for our ships," Wedge finally said. "Danni has been assisting him with working out the bugs in the technology."

"Kriffin' bugs," Daniels said. "Lots of them kriffing every-karking-thing up. Frak you, Palpatine. Sithspawn of a..."

"We found out what was wrong," Danni interrupted the rant. "These schematics are fakes."

"Fakes?" Leia asked.

"A f-farkled d-d-d-decoy," Daniels stuttered angrily. "We-we think that s-shavit of a skrogging dwang Palpatine let out farking false schematics so the the rebellion would be f-fraked if they t-tried to-to r-replicate it."

"We need a legit copy," Danni said, taking over for the socially inept scientist. "This one has the structure designs correct as far as we can tell, but the focusing configuration is all over the place. Leia, did you keep a copy of the original Death Star schematics?"

"Not personally," Leia said. "The plans were kept on a secure computer on Coruscant, but they were wiped out when the Yuuzhan Vong invaded. I know for a fact the data centre auto-destruct was activated successfully."

"What about R2-D2?" Wedge asked. "Did Luke have him keep a copy?"

Leia's hesitation gave Jaina all the answer she needed. She looked at her mom with a mixed look of betrayal and surprise as Leia leaned forward against the railing around the holoprojector and stared at Wedge. _Uncle Luke_ had been sitting on Death Star plans for most of his life?

"Yes," Leia finally said, an admission which seemed to age her about ten years on the spot. The light of the holoprojector seemed to enhance every wrinkle and line on her face, and give her eyes a haunting glow. She glared at Wedge as if daring him to ask her to retrieve them. "But we locked them down with a three-part encryption sequence. Retrieving them will be impossible."

While everyone else looked confused, Jaina, Wedge and Danni seemed to decode her statement at the same moment. They realized that the three parts of the encryption sequence had been codes input by Leia, Luke, and, of course, Han.

"Who else might have a copy?" Wedge asked softly. "I already asked Booster and the Chiss. Neither has it or is willing to admit to it."

"Karrde?" Danni asked.

"That's where I got this copy," Wedge pointed to the display in front of them.

"The Maw facility was destroyed," Leia said, looking into the holoprojector light as if it might provide inspiration. "So were the plans the Hutts stole. Byss was destroyed. The Wayland mountain database was wiped out."

"What about that guy uncle Lando and Aunt Mara were looking for years ago?" Jaina asked. "The one Karrde had to get the Caamas Document from."

"Jorj Car'das _might_ have a copy," Leia admitted, speaking slowly. "But if I remember correctly, he was out in the Kathol sector. It'll take weeks to get out there, even if we redline the _Falcon_ the whole way there. We don't have that much time."

"There is no way you can recreate what you need?" Stazi asked.

"Fraking stupid-ass Admiral," Daniels muttered, earning a shocked glare from everyone except Wedge, who merely closed his eyes and shook his head. "What kind..."

"No," Danni interrupted Daniels again with a bite of irritation in her voice. Jaina smiled to herself when she realized that Danni's patience seemed to be running out by working with Daniels. "The math is too complicated for simulations to run efficiently on the equipment we have available and we don't have the resources to test the system in live fire models."

"There's another possibility," Trista said with a predatory grin. "We know of several ships that have figured out the math."

"You want to steal the schematics of a Bogan warship?" Jaina asked. "They've mowed through entire fleets like they're not even there. What chance do we have without a super laser to fight them with?"

"We have several stealth ships we brought with us from Hapes," Taryn replied with a much nicer smile than her sister wore. "We were trained in stealth and espionage from birth. If we have the location of the ship, we could retrieve it."

"The ships are designed to infiltrate up to three people and exfiltrate with minimal visible damage to the ship," Trista said. "We've infiltrated ships as small as Corellian freighters without being detected. Something this big would be easy."

"How would you get there?" Jaina asked.

"They have a hyperdrive that's only good for an hour at most," Taryn laughed. "Any longer and you wouldn't want to be in there anymore!"

"Speak for yourself," Trista growled. "The _real_ range is eighteen hours at point-four. Life support is good for forty hours."

"Trista would wait for Hoth to melt if she thought she might find a missing data card under the ice," Taryn snickered.

"You'll need a Jedi skilled at hiding people in the Force to go with you," Leia said. "Unfortunately, that's neither of us. We should see if we can find Kyle Katarn. He was one of our agents that originally found part of the Death Star schematics."

"Last I heard he's at the Vornskr base," Wedge said. "I'll make a call to see if they can locate him. You're all dismissed."

Daniels yanked his data card out of the holodisplay and took three steps away from the console before he turned around.

"Well, Danni, let's farking get to it! We don't have all karkin' eternity!"

Danni shrugged and followed the scientist out of the war room, muttering to Leia on her way out. "You'd think _he_ outranked _me._"

After the door closed behind Danni, everyone turned their attention to Wedge.

"I know," Wedge held his hands out in front of him as if to ward off an attack. "He's crazier than a gundark and has a third of the social skills, but he knows his stuff. He already came up with a dozen ways to improve energy and shield efficiency fleet wide. We can't afford to be picky about personnel right now."

"Not a problem at all," Admiral Stazi said with remarkable compassion in his voice. "I was thinking we might have some good strategic use for him."

"What's that?" Wedge asked.

"We'll put him on the air and have him tell the Bogans what he thinks about them," Stazi said. "_That'll_ piss 'em off."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

A startling calm came over Eriana as the timer above her ticked down the last minute of hyperspace. As Stragoron's fleet hurtled toward Fondor, she took a deep breath and slowly let it out. Their plan was solid. She knew that. She knew her people would execute it flawlessly. She knew they would face strong opposition and they would have to strike hard and strike fast. And she knew they would.

At thirty seconds left, Eriana finally turned around and walked down into the command pit where Stragoron was leaning over the holographic display that already showed the battlefield.

"All fighters launch in thirty seconds," Stragoron ordered. "Turbolaser crews and ion control stand by. Arm forward torpedo batteries and mass drivers."

Crew members echoed his orders and acknowledged readiness, bursting into action the second the ship dropped from hyperspace. Data began automatically flowing into the terminal, updating the battlefield in real time with the Black Vornskr ships in red and the Bogan-allied ships in green.

"Enemy fleet is scattered like grain," Stragoron growled. "All ships, move forward in delta formation. _Keldabes_ take the outer wall, everything else on the inside. Fighters, get in there and clear us a path."

Eriana watched as the fighters lurched ahead of the fleet and hammered the weapon emplacements with torpedoes and making them vanish one after another. One hundred _Keldabe_-class warships created a spear point perimeter around the rest of the fleet, launching their heavy artillery at the Fondor defense fleet with deadly precision. Eriana watched as the defending ships scrambled to get out of the way of the invading fleet, nearly five hundred capital ships strong, and nodded.

"I'm going to join one of the assault ships," Eriana said to Stragoron and picked the helmet for her Jensaraai armour off the table. He nodded, barely acknowledging her, and barked out more orders to his personnel.

Eriana ran out of the bridge and sprinted her way to the nearest turbolift. Everyone kept out of her way, busy with their own tasks during battle, so she rode alone to the hanger bay and ran out before the door opened the whole way. She ran into the chilly hanger and sprinted right up the boarding ramp of the last ship that was still open just as it began to close. She sat down beside the last trooper in the row against the wall and strapped herself in. Everyone seemed confused about her appearance in their ship, then, as if they were governed by a group mind, they all clued in at the same time. It was _her_.

"I trust you'll all do your job well," Eriana said to the team of raiders. "But, if you don't mind, I'd like to be the first one out."

"Be our guest," one brave Raider said. Eriana smiled at him, and put her helmet on.

The ship lurched, and they were off.

Two minutes of being jolted around, Eriana felt the ship land on their destination and, as one, everyone unbuckled their safety restraints and readied their weapons. With her still-injured but mostly healed left arm, she decided to stick to the basics and only drew a lightsaber with her right hand. Eriana walked directly to the back of the ship and slammed the pommel of her lightsaber against the release.

"Who authorized...?" Eriana heard someone – probably the Captain – ask, but she ignited the yellow lightsaber blade to use the distinctive snap-hiss to drown out the question.

She ran up and over the ramp before it fully retracted, landing on the ground in a roll and deflecting a stream of blaster bolts back at the point of origin. Eriana noticed seven raider ships all lined up inside the shipyard hanger bay and a team of spaceport defense personnel streaming into the hanger. She sprinted across the hanger and charged at the incoming defense team with a Force-enhanced inhumane roar that shook _everything_ in the hanger. The defense team dropped their blasters and ran back the way they came.

"Move your asses Raiders!" Eriana shouted at her own stunned personnel, pointing her lightsaber at the stacks of metal crates against the walls. "Double-time, girls! Alpha crew on defense. Beta and Gamma, get those crates loaded! Let's move!"

Four members from each ship joined Eriana in building a defensive perimeter and took up position waiting for the next round of Fondor Security personnel to arrive. Using the Force, Eriana levitated eight crates at a time to the drop ships, moving enough material to fill one ship in a fraction of the time it was taking the raiders. Each crate was easily six hundred pounds, so Eriana moved as many crates safely as she could to make it easier for her raiders. They worked efficiently, and soon had everything loaded.

After ten minutes, the raider ships were back in space and Eriana assessed the damage from the co-pilot's chair of the assault ship she arrived on. Half the Fondor defense fleet was in ruins, the _Keldabe_-class heavy cruisers, having absorbed the brunt of the damage easily, looked no worse for wear, and the Black Vornskrs had everything they needed bundled up and were on the way out.

Eriana smiled to herself and started running over the checklist for the next stage of her plans. _Nothing _was going to get in her way.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-


	14. Explosive Entry

Onimi/Sioux - Eriana...I wanted to show what she could be when pushed. To show who she is as the pirate leader that everyone believes her to be, both in front of the troops and behind them. Sometimes, nothing can stand in the way of that level of determination. I think we see that with both Mara and Eriana in this middle part of the story.

Hope y'all enjoy this one. Long weekend, yay :)

Chapter 12 – Explosive Entry [[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

By the time Jacen and Zara arrived at the seemingly abandoned warehouse near the lake outside Unlos Tagge they had already gone through four outer layers of Black Sun underlings, each of which were truthfully claiming to be helping a friend or just earning a few extra credits by driving a truck or moving some crates around. None of them knew what had been in the crates, only that they had been delivered to a warehouse full of quiet guys carrying blasters.

"I sense ten bodies," Jacen said as they examined the warehouse from a distance in the shadow of a building, hidden from the bright light reflected from the full moon above. He wore a black cloak over his smuggler's outfit, but Zara wore only her usual black leather outfit made up of calf-high boots, bicep high gloves and what Jacen might only call two-piece leather swimwear with some strong desire for greater integrity on the top end. He seriously wondered if the strapless mini-top would survive even ten seconds into a lightsaber battle, or if it was glued in place. But he figured that was not his problem. He also wondered if she owned any other clothing at all, or if her entire wardrobe consisted of several copies of the same scant outfit.

"There may be droids," Zara warned, not willing to entirely trust Jacen's senses just yet.

"Four," Jacen said. "A threepio and three load lifters."

"You can't possibly know that," Zara growled.

"You're the one who said I'm full of surprises," Jacen reminded her. "I have an affinity with electricity. I can sense the power cells of active droids. I spent my entire life around a threepio and can recognize the power signature from a mile away. The load lifters are pretty distinctive, too, if you follow the power draw patterns. My concern is any droids that are currently deactivated. They could have a dozen assassin droids in standby mode that I can't sense."

"Are you afraid of what is lurking unknown in there?" Zara asked devilishly.

"Only for your safety," Jacen shot back. "I still need you to unlock the ship."

"How touching," Zara said. She pulled her lightsaber from her belt and made to slip into the moonlight, but Jacen grabbed her by the right bicep.

"What are you doing?"

She pointed to the warehouse. "Going after the enemy. What are you doing?"

"I was thinking of walking around the outside and disabling any means of transportation they have waiting so they can't get very far if they make a run for it and get past us. It is a little difficult to surround and attack a four-sided half-square kilometre warehouse with two people, even if one of their egos is twice the size of the warehouse."

Zara clipped her lightsaber back on her belt with a huff and followed Jacen back around the building they were hiding behind so they could get closer to their target warehouse under a better cover of darkness.

"How old are you?" Jacen asked to pass the time on their walk.

"Twenty-one standard years," Zara replied. "Why do you ask?"

"You seem to be making the same mistakes I did when I was about your age."

"My training was to dominate Jedi," Zara said. "I assure you I can handle myself in a fight."

"I don't doubt that," Jacen said. "But you might want to learn some strategy at some point."

"I learned how to kill. Nothing else was important."

"What do you do for fun?"

"I train."

"No favourite holo vids or games?"

Jacen felt her glare on the back of his head and stopped interrogating her. As they approached the warehouse Jacen knelt down beside their cover building and let his eyes accustom to the darkness in the shadow of the moonlight.

"There, two speeder bikes and a transport," Jacen pointed at the vehicles beside the only door on the facing side of the building. "If we bend the front navigation assembly on the bikes and remove the motivator of the transport they won't get far. If you take care of that, I'll take a run around the building and see if there are any more vehicles and disable them."

"What does a motivator look like?" Zara asked.

Jacen just shook his head. He never thought that spending all those hours at the Jedi Academy tinkering with ships with Jaina would be as useful as it was, even if he had only half paid attention.

"Just remove the steering assembly. I want to minimize lightsaber evidence. Be sure to do it real quiet-like."

By the time Jacen returned from his run around the warehouse, Zara was sitting on a speeder bike, impatiently tapping her finger nails on the cowling.

"I disabled six cameras," Jacen said. "Pulled the lens out of them so they aren't focused. They'll probably think it is a transmission error if they look at the displays. There are eight roll-up doors on the far side and a single person door and several person doors along each side. The east side has offices. The bodies seem to be clustered in this corner of the warehouse, and the rest seems pretty full of crates and stuff."

"So we can bust through this door and snag everyone easily?"

"Pretty much."

"Why did I have to wreck the speeders? We could've used them to get back to our ship!"

"Well if you knew what a motivator was, that wouldn't be a problem," Jacen said. "I can reinstall one of those in a minute."

"Don't you put this on me, Jedi! I was following your orders."

"Was whining part of your training too?" Jacen shot back. "Look, when we get in there, I want no casualties. Dead bodies don't talk. Try to minimize any damage. Anything the Black Sun finds that could link a cell falling apart to the Jedi or Bogans could send them scrambling. Memories are a lot easier to adjust than lightsaber burns."

"And if they start shooting at us?"

"Deflect to non-vital body parts."

Zara scowled under her breath as she drew her lightsaber, and Jacen grabbed her arm again.

"If you kill the one guy who is Black Sun and we're stuck with a room full of lackeys, our trail goes cold. And then I have no reason to be on this mission, and no reason to stick around. You'll be forced to try taking me prisoner, and either by my hand or Krayt's, you will die when you fail. So if you can't keep your blade in check in there, I'll take you down right now."

Zara looked back at him with a vicious glare in her eye.

"I'd like to see you try."

Jacen's hand shot up and grabbed her throat before she could even sense his movement. A current of electricity from his thumb to middle finger temporarily shut down any messages travelling down her spine, and her body went limp, held up entirely by his telekinesis.

"Is that 'try' enough for you?" Jacen asked. "Do you want to play by my rules, or do you want a nice long nap? It doesn't matter to me. Decide quickly, because your heart is going to stop beating pretty soon."

"I...will...help..." Zara choked out. Jacen dropped her and she fell to the ground coughing, sucking in as much oxygen as she could. Jacen crouched down in front of her and looked her in the eye.

"This is the last time you question my orders. Understood?"

"I understand," Zara growled, glaring at him with contempt.

"You go through that window," Jacen pointed to the one above them. "Try to get as far into the warehouse without being detected and find a place to catch them if they run. Two minutes later, I'll go through the door here and incapacitate them. When they're contained, we'll tie them up, find out who the Black Sun guy is, and ask him a few questions. Minimize damage as best as you can to property and personnel. Got it?"

"I do not disagree with your plan," Zara said dangerously. She leapt up and grabbed the window sill, silently disappearing from view as she slipped through the window.

Jacen shook his head and looked to his chronometer. _Grandfather, I know you warned me about making deals with the Sith, _he thought_. But you never told me how much of a pain in the ass they are._

_What? Did you expect a friendly Sith?_ Anakin Skywalker's voice spoke inside Jacen's head. He could swear he heard chuckling in his grandfather's voice, but just shook his head and turned his attention to his chronometer.

Two minutes ticked away slowly and Jacen finally calmed his racing heart with a Jedi meditation technique. He approached the door, dropped his weight on the handle, and pushed it open. He stumbled into the brightly lit room and held his hand up to the light to block it from his eyes. He heard a few chairs grind against the hard floor and some footsteps approach.

"What're you doin' here?" a gruff voice asked him. "Get out!"

"I juss need a 'fresher," Jacen slurred, trying to sound as drunk as possible. He leaned heavily on a box, practically falling into it, and two of the men grabbed him by the arms to prevent him from causing any damage. "Maybe s'more brandy if ye got it."

"I don't smell alcohol on you," one of them said.

"That's a really good point," Jacen said, suddenly sober again. A knife-hand strike to the throat sent the first man to his knees and a hammer fist to the second's jaw resulted in a spinning pirouette into unconsciousness. The other men drew blasters and Jacen jumped above them with a Force-enhanced leap. He landed on the table in the middle of the group, slipped on the pile of credits in the middle of the table and fell on his back. The table broke in half with his weight slamming into it and he ended up on his back with eight blasters pointed at him and several drinks soaking his clothes.

"Don't move, Jedi," a man with a black goatee said. "Toss us your lightsaber."

"Jedi?" Jacen asked. "What are you talking about?"

"I can see your lightsaber on your belt. Toss it over here. Move slowly."

Jacen looked down at his brother's lightsaber hanging on his right hip. His own lightsaber was still hidden under his jacket on his left hip.

"Oh, that," Jacen said. "That's my shaver. Gives the _best_ cut ever."

The snap-hiss of Zara's lightsaber brought everyone's attention away from Jacen and he used the distraction to perform a back roll combined with a reverse kip-up kick that caught a Rodian under the jaw, knocking it out cold. Jacen continued his flip and drew his lightsabers, igniting both in time to catch a pair of blaster bolts and deflect them both into the knees of the man across from him. He slashed the blaster of the woman beside him in half and bashed her in the jaw with his right lightsaber pommel while still deflecting blaster bolts from the men in front and behind him at the same time with his two blades. He kicked the one in front of him in the gut and followed with an axe kick to the back of the head driving him into unconsciousness with the heel of his foot, simultaneously deflecting blaster bolts aimed at the back of his head with the reverse-gripped lightsaber in his left hand. He turned to face the seventh man and hit him with a stream of emerald green lightning, knocking him out cold. Jacen looked over at Zara and saw three men floating in the air upside down beside her.

"You call that an entrance, Jedi?" Zara asked with a smug look of satisfaction on her face.

"I slipped," Jacen grumbled. "Tie them up. We have work to do."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Using the skills from their former professions, Boba Fett and Han Solo spent days in hyperspace reconfiguring the weapons they had acquired to perform in the unique way that would be appropriate to their mission. Over the days, Han's memories slowly returned, but gaps still existed. As memories resurfaced he asked Fett about them, to see if what he was remembering was in fact his own memory or something else entirely.

"Robbing a Black Sun vault on Wukkar and finding out the creds weren't good?" Han asked.

"Real," Fett responded, gently unscrewing the cap on another of the explosives. "It was a diversion for assassinating Qazadi."

"Qazadi was a Black Sun Vigo," Han said thoughtfully. "Huh. I thought that memory was a holo vid I watched."

"Close to it," Fett said. "Seeing you run across the front lawn of the estate swinging an electrowhip around was one of the damn funniest things I've ever seen."

"You were there?"

"Yeah, I was Eanjer Kunarazti," Fett said with a grin.

"Who?"

"The guy who hired you."

Han looked up at the ceiling for a moment as if the answer he was looking for was hidden in the grey metal.

"Nope, don't remember that."

"This was the first time I told you about it."

"I seem to think it was Lando's idea," Han said and slapped the casing back into place on the mine he was holding. "Hope you didn't pay that scientist much for whatever he did to my head."

"I won't have much need for money after this mission," Fett said. "In two days, we'll both be dead."

"Not the first time I heard those words."

"It probably will be the last," Fett replied.

"Why are you so sure we're going to die?" Han asked as he picked up the last of the modules they had to reconfigure. "Chewie and me got out of a lot of Imperial garrisons."

"Han, let's face it," Fett said. "Twelve year old girls have been able to sneak in and out of Imperial installations. Stormtroopers were practically blind in that armour. Those that weren't just didn't care. We're going to be sneaking into the Bogan home shipyard."

"Who am I to argue?" Han muttered. A chime rang from the cockpit throughout the ship and both men hopped up and jogged to the source of it. Boba Fett dropped into the pilot seat and Han took the communication chair beside him, still clutching the mine.

"We're coming out of hyperspace," Fett said and reached for the appropriate lever. "Hang on."

With a gentle lurch, the _Slave IV_ dropped from hyperspace into an empty area of space with a planet shining in the distance.

"Could you get any farther away?" Han asked as he squinted at the speck of a planet. "I think there's a good view of this place from Coruscant."

"The planet is Kesh," Fett said, ignoring his partner's blatant sarcasm. "For thousands of years a lost tribe of Sith Lords lived there, isolated from the galaxy until Darth Krayt gave them new meaning. He enslaved them with his ideals and used them to build a new empire. For almost twenty years they've been building ships and amassing an army."

"And that's where the shipyard we're attacking is?"

"Exactly," Fett said. He played with the dials before him and activated the HUD. A holo of the planet appeared, half encapsulated by a giant shipyard. "Looks like another ship is just about complete with four more on the way."

Han stared at the screen in awe for a minute examining the shipyard diagram. Despite a somewhat fuzzy resolution, he could see worker ships moving around the nearly completed mothership putting the final details on it.

"So what's the plan?"

Boba turned to face Han with a look of surprise.

"I thought I'd leave this one up to the expert," he said pleasantly. "I will give one suggestion: we have a Mandalorian cloaking device."

"Does it work in hyperspace?"

"There is about a two second delay between reversion and activation," Fett said. "The gravitational effects of hyperspace distorts the cloaking field."

"Drop in at the north pole," Han said. "Old smuggler's trick."

"Everyone's been doing that for years," Fett rolled his eyes.

"Because it's an old smuggler's trick," Han said defensively. "And it works."

"That it does," Fett said and pointed at a console beside him. "Use that to calculate the point of the greatest magnetic field density. I'll plot the jump."

"Will it be able to from this distance?"

Fett turned away from his calculations and glared at Han.

"The only component legal in this ship is the deck plating you're standing on," Fett said. "What do you think?"

"I think you need to explain how transparisteel is illegal," Han muttered. After a minute of working the sensors he rattled off a series of coordinates.

"Hold on," Fett said as he input them into the navicomputer and reached for the hyperspace lever. Han barely sat down by the time the ship smoothly jumped to hyperspace and quickly dropped back out. "Activating cloak."

The visage before them shimmered slightly and Han waited in anticipation for an attack to blow them out of the sky, which did not come. The shimmering effect continued to hold, and Fett smiled.

"We're invisible," he reported.

"Scan the planet," Han suggested. "Let's see what's down there."

Fett hammered at the controls for a minute and a wire frame of the planet appeared on the HUD. Across the planet were red dots, all clustered closely together. "Looks like about half a billion beings."

"Big cities," Han remarked. "They must have some pretty big apartments to get a population density like that."

"Sensors don't show any tall buildings in the vicinity," Fett said. "Everything is under three stories. I've only seen people packed this tightly for two reasons: Refugee camps, and slave labour camps."

"You think Krayt's using slave labour of his own Bogan people to build his ships?"

"I think it's more likely he brainwashed them," Fett said. "This is supposed to be a planet of Force users. They won't be easily controlled, so that he could do this to that large a population..."

"We're in for a hell of a fight," Han ordered. "Okay, call up the specs on the shipyard. Let's see what they've got."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Targo the Hutt was one of the very few Hutts to regain some semblance of power after the Yuuzhan Vong war wiped out almost the entire species. Having hidden on Tattooine in Jabba's former palace at the north end of the Dune Sea, Targo bade his time and re-emerged as one of the criminal underworld's premier suppliers of illicit weaponry, ship upgrades, and information on patrol routes. Bounty hunters, smugglers and criminals alike flocked to Targo's heavily reinforced palace for safety from the authorities and each other. With a strict no-weapons and no-fighting policy, only Targo's dozens of modified YVH droids remained armed to keep the guests in line.

What Mara learned from supplementary data from Shada, Karrde had been in a data exchange agreement with Targo to supply Krayt fleet movements in exchange for leads on upgraded weaponry for the Black Vornskrs. Ami had been supplying information to Targo on Karrde's behalf and had disappeared while on vacation from her position on Coruscant making the trip to Tattoine to personally make the information drop. Aside from knowing that Ami had arrived on Tattoine, Shada knew nothing more about Ami's condition, and Targo had gone mysteriously silent to her hails.

Mara parked her borrowed speeder in front of the main heavy durasteel door and slowly climbed out. She knew she was under observation, so she took extra time to get to her feet in a show that she was not intimidated by the two YVH droids positioned outside the giant door. She walked up to the first one.

"I'm here to see Targo."

"The Illustrious Targo the Hutt does not recognize an appointment with you," the YVH said with a mechanical voice.

"You don't even know who I am."

"You are unscheduled," the YVH said. "Leave the premises immediately."

"Tell him to schedule me in," Mara said. "That's my first offer that I can guarantee you he'll wish he took."

The droid did not react to her implied threat, but merely stared at her as it processed information being transmitted remotely.

"Remove yourself from the premises or we will remove you."

"Funny," Mara said. "I was going to say the same thing to you."

In a flash of violet, both YVH droid heads fell to the ground, soon after followed by their sparking bodies. Mara looked up at the video camera observing her and narrowed her eyes. A flicker of the Force crushed the camera.

Knowing that her time was limited, Mara deactivated her lightsaber and clipped it to her belt. She gathered the Force and jumped high above the door, somersaulting through the air to land in a crouch on the rocky ground the tunnelled entrance to the palace had been bored from. She ran across the length of the tunnel and expertly evaded the blaster bolts that boiled the sand around her, fired from the tower high above. She ran toward one of the ventilation shafts that stuck up from the tunnel below. Knowing the shaft was protected with explosives, she slid into it and drew the Force around herself in a protective cocoon as she triggered the proximity sensors. The Force shield protected her from the explosives as she fell into the main hanger bay for the palace, and a section of the roof came down around her taking out several YVH droidsthat were waiting below. She hopped over the debris and continued deeper into the complex at a sprint as the workers and guests of Targo's scattered at the sight of her. Mara barely noticed that more YVH droids were firing at her, but she applied the Force and ran out of their range at an inhuman speed.

Using the Force to shove people and droids out of her way, Mara wound through the twisting corridors and stairwells of Targo's palace, using the blueprints she memorized a lifetime ago to find her way to the main audience chamber. She burst through the last stairwell, beheaded two more YVH droids with her lightsaber, and rolled to her feet in front of Targo with a hold-out blaster pointed at his slimy head. The room, with a band providing entertainment and various smugglers, criminals and bounty hunters telling tall tales and jokes, fell silent at Mara's unexpected appearance.

"You have something I want," Mara said. "You would be wise to give it to me."

Targo laughed, a deep booming Hutt laugh that echoed through the chambers and was soon carried on by his clients. When Targo fell silent, everyone else did, including the YVH droids that finally caught up to Mara and stood at attention twenty deep along the stairwell leading back toward the main entrance.

Targo asked something in Huttese, but Mara shifted her aim and shot his tail. His loud squeal was stopped when she fired another bolt close enough to his head that he could feel the heat of it pass by.

"Speak basic, you worthless slug," Mara ordered. "Or my next shot will be something much more precious to you."

Mara sensed the entire room tense at her threat, but knew few of them would pose much of any threat to her with Targo's no-weapon policy. He finally narrowed his eyes and assessed her not as the disruption she had started out as, but as a genuine threat.

"Who makes this demand of the Great Targo the Hutt?" Targo finally said.

"Mara Jade Skywalker," Mara said. "Shada D'ukal sent me to find out why you took one of Karrde's people as a prisoner. She's leaving with me whether you like it or not."

"Karrde's messenger was trying to kill one of the other patrons," Targo said. "The rules are clear – violence is not permitted. I make exceptions for nobody. Her sentence will be carried out tomorrow."

Mara holstered her blaster and pulled out the thermal detonator from her utility belt, flicked the activation switch, and threw it at Targo with Force enhanced aim. It went directly into Targo's mouth, and she used the Force to shove it down his throat as he coughed against her unyielding power. A stunned silence went through the entire chamber, and even the droids looked unsure of how to proceed. She took two steps toward him and pointed her lightsaber to his neck.

"Here's my final offer, you revolting slug," Mara sneered. "She comes with me, or I release the safety on that detonator and find her myself. Pick fast. My patience is wearing thin."

"Nobody threatens Targo the Hutt and gets away with it," Targo growled.

"Then I must be nobody," Mara replied, and released her hold on the detonator.


	15. Deadly Details

Chapter 13 – Deadly Details

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Deep in the downtown core of Cambrielle, the capital city of the financial powerhouse planet of Ralltiir, Jaina wove her way through the crowds of people in business attire rushing through the streets feeling a bit out of place in her leather jacket, white tank top and baggy forest-camouflage cargo pants. Just about _everyone_ was in a suit, except for a small group of tourists across the street snapping holographs of the tall towering buildings.

Jaina took a moment to look up at what they were taking pictures of and she realized she was standing beside the Galactic Exchange Building. The entire area she was standing in had been leveled by the Yuuzhan Vong near the end of the war, but in the eleven years since everything had been rebuilt and restored to return Raltiir to its former glory. She also remembered that the Galactic Exchange building was her destination, so she climbed the steep embankment of stairs to reach the revolving main entrance.

The four doors arranged together in an X spun around in a circular entrance way, always keeping the interior closed from the exterior with two doors while allowing sentients to enter the building. Jaina joined four other people and shuffled through the revolving door, trying to ignore the looks of distain she was getting for her clothes. Or maybe it was her sun shades that she refused to remove. Either way, three seconds later she was in the expansive lobby, looking up at the beautiful mosaic on the ceiling depicting the long history of Raltiir. She felt someone bump against her arm and looked beside her to see an irritated man scowling at her.

"Gawking hours are after midday," he growled. "Keep moving or get out of the way."

"Go piss up a rope," Jaina advised him and shook her head. But he was right. She had work to do. She looked around and saw the small Border-Planet Café on the left side of the lobby, which was what she was looking for. She crossed the lobby and got into the line to wait for her turn to order. About ten seconds into the wait, she did what everyone else seemed to be doing – she pulled out her LinkCom and played a game. After about ten levels of sling shoting little birds at Stormtrooper helmets, she was four people from the front of the line.

She looked over at the barista, a muscular, clean shaven man about her dad's age with greying brown hair and a name tag on his green apron that said "Qu." She waited as he processed the next two people, staring at him intently, until he finally looked at her. Their eyes locked for a brief second and he went back to processing the next customer. When it was finally her turn, Jaina stepped up to him.

"Give me a white hot chocolate, no whipped cream on top," Jaina said. "And add a bit of powdered chakroot."

"Ten twenty-five, please."

Jaina handed him her credit card with a data chip discretely hidden behind it, and he swiped it through the machine. He handed the card back, and Jaina did not even notice that the data chip had disappeared into his hand.

"Name for the cup?"

"Kylie."

"Cute."

"Thank you," Jaina flashed him her girliest smile and walked around to the other end of the counter where a six-armed female Besalisk was assembling multiple drinks under two machines at once, adding and mixing ingredients, steaming them, and pouring them into the appropriate cup with uncanny precision, not even pausing when calling out the names scribbled onto the cups by her partner Qu.

"Kylie, white hot choc."

Jaina barely had time to reach for her cup by the time "Jenny" behind her was called for her black caf. She grabbed her drink and retreated to one of the empty tables across the lobby from the café. She spent the next hour playing games on her LinkCom and watching anxious business people bustling about, waiting for Qu to take a break. She glanced up from time to time and watched as he tirelessly ran through what seemed like hundreds of patrons until the line finally died out. Qu retreated into the back area of the café and emerged five minutes later wearing a leather jacket in place of his apron and a drink in each hand. He crossed the lobby and sat down across from Jaina putting one drink in front of her, and sipping on the other one himself.

"I never pictured you as a barista," Jaina said. "Have you been bench pressing that caf machine?"

"I like my job," Kyle Katarn said quietly. "Nobody chasing me with a lightsaber, I'm well-poised to gather financial intel from clients, I get all the free drinks I want, and a complementary gym pass."

Jaina leaned forward against the table and looked up at him over the top frame of the sun shades she was still wearing, fully aware that by doing so he was getting a good look down her shirt. It amused her to note how hard he fought to keep his eyes locked with hers when he realized she was not wearing anything under her low cut white tank top. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a young man sitting a couple tables away stop in mid bite of his sandwich and stare at her, and he was definitely not looking at her eyes.

_Maybe those holonet reports about me were right,_ Jaina thought to herself. _Or they're both desperate._

"How about a job in your old line of work?" Jaina said quietly. "Wedge is trying to add super lasers to a fleet of Star Destroyers. We need to infiltrate a Bogan warship to get their laser schematics to get ours to work. Nobody knows how to get in and out of a ship crawling with Force-sensitive hostiles like you do."

"I read your data chip," Kyle whispered, leaning forward and taking her hands in his as if they were two lovers having a passionate discussion about each other's most desirable features, mostly to avoid her distractingly low neckline. "I can't leave. I don't get holidays until next year."

"Kyle..."

"It's Qu, and you have no idea how hard it was to get a job in this building in the first place. The intel I'm gathering is helping our leader track the flow of half the credits moving between the core and the outer planets. She's been using it to gain insight into...well, I can't talk about that."

Jaina leaned back and crossed her arms, taking away the view of her cleavage and clenching her jaw to show her displeasure. She glanced at the young man who had been staring at her, oblivious to the fact that his sandwich fell apart in his hand until her glare met his. She watched with detached amusement as he embarrassedly scrambled to reassemble his sandwich.

"But I can still help."

"Go on."

Kyle looked around once again and back at Jaina. "Not many people know this, but when the schematics for the first Death Star were found, they were found by different people in several parts and assembled by your mother for transmission back to Jan Dodonna. I was the one who sent her the super laser schematic. And I kept a couple copies."

Jaina's eyes went wide as Kyle reached into his jacket. He held something against his chest with his left arm and yanked on it with his right hand. He pulled his hand out to reveal the separated handle of his Bryar pistol. Using the Force he popped a release inside it and removed half of the brown casing. Stuck to the inside were two data cards held on by a strip of tape, one of which he peeled off and handed to Jaina. Three seconds later the handle was reassembled and back on his hidden blaster. Kyle drained the last of his latte, stood up and took a step toward her.

"I'm sorry, Kylie," Katarn said loud enough that anyone who might have seen them nearby would be able to hear. "I don't think it's going to work out between us anymore."

"One last question, sweetie," Jaina leaned back with her hands behind her head to stretch out her chest and look up at him, mostly so she could speak a bit quieter. She also fully knew she was teasing both members of her audience as the thin white material of her tank top stretched across her breasts, leaving very little about her physique to their imaginations. "Who's Qu?"

"Ask your uncle," Kyle said, and on an afterthought he grabbed handful of coins from his pocket and tossed them onto the table. "And buy some clothes on your way off planet. You're dressed like a cheap prostitute."

Jaina laughed and took another swig from her drink, finishing it off. She winked at the young man across the way and smiled at him as she picked up the coins from Kyle, laughing again as the sandwich fell apart for the second time. Before he could recover his sandwich, she was gone.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

With their prisoners zip cuffed and tied to a shelving unit, Jacen and Zara retreated out of earshot to discuss their interrogation strategy. Having dismissed her idea of putting a lightsaber into the gut of one of them and waiting for them to tell their secrets, Jacen drew some new inspiration from something Corran and his uncle had once told him.

"You stand there and look as malevolent as you can," Jacen said. "I'll ask them the questions. If this works, you won't need to say anything."

"How does one look 'malevolent'?"

"Think Hutt with eyebrows."

Zara scowled at him and Jacen nodded. "Perfect, keep that up."

Jacen could feel her eyes trying to bore a hole in the back of his head as he walked back to the line of prisoners, but chose to ignore her. He looked the prisoners over and made note of their emotions. Of the ten prisoners, five of the men were terrified into genuine hysterics. They were sobbing in fear, not even looking at their captors. Of the other five, two of the men were scared but were putting on a brave face, the Rodian did not even appear to be aware of his surroundings, likely due to the effect of the double kick to the jaw he received, the woman was surprisingly calm and calculating, and one man was confident. The last two worried him the most.

"I know who you are," the confident man called out. "You're Jacen Solo. You're a Jedi. You won't hurt us. Jedi are the good guys."

"I do look a lot like him, don't I?" Jacen said with a level of indifference. "I get that a lot. Maybe I am him. But her, she's _definitely_ not a Jedi. She's one of Darth Krayt's assassins. And she's hasn't killed anything in at least seventy-two hours, so she's really on edge. I suggest not upsetting her."

"You're bluffing," the confident man said. "Jedi and Sith don't work together."

"Bogan," Jacen corrected. "She's a Bogan warrior. They're not Sith. It's a rebranding or something. I don't quite get the marketing aspect behind it, but it doesn't seem to be working. Anyway, I'm just looking for some answers."

Jacen unleashed a torrent of emerald-green energy and knocked out all of the prisoners except for the confident man and the calculating woman. As they all slouched onto their restraints, Jacen turned to his last two conscious prisoners.

"One or all of you is Black Sun," Jacen said, carefully watching for any reaction, but neither even flinched. "My guess is you two are. The others are too scared to fit the profile. You can either tell me what I want to know, or my friend there can start using her considerable skills in the art of torture. It's a bit of a hobby for her."

"Pain will not loosen our tongues," the woman said. "Black Sun will do worse to us than you ever could if we talked. You will leave here empty-handed with our blood on your hands. Can you live with that, Jedi?"

"So both of you are Black Sun," Jacen surmised. He looked over his shoulder back at Zara. "Okay, all yours. You can try pulling their brains out of their noses like you wanted to. Make sure you get a really good grip– they can be slippery."

"Gladly," Zara growled and sauntered toward her target, eyes locked with the man's. Jacen felt fear break through his confidence.

"Wait," the man said, suddenly panicking. "I-I'm not Black Sun. I've just done some stuff for them. L-little stuff. Moving boxes of important stuff. I don't know anything!"

Jacen held a hand up for Zara to stop, so she crossed her arms and glared at them both as if she had been deprived of the greatest joy of her life.

"Tell me what you do know."

"What will you give me?" the man said. "I'm already dead. I have no reason to help you."

"I'll drop you off at the next pla..."

"Done. She's an agent," he sputtered. "Recruited me to do odd jobs. Last week I collected credits from the baker on Drury Lane, and the week before we picked up boxes from the governor's palace. They wanted to recruit me, but I'm not joining if the Sith are hunting us!"

"Bogan," Zara growled. "We should kill this one. He knows nothing. And is annoying."

"No! I told you everything I know. We had a deal!"

"Yes, we do. You've been a good boy," Jacen said in a patronizing voice. He punched the man's jaw, knocking him out. "Now stay."

Both Jacen and Zara approached the remaining conscious prisoner together and eyed her with malevolence.

"I want to know your name, rank within the Black Sun, who your boss is and where I can find him," Jacen said. "Please. And if you can't do that, I want to know who the leader of Black Sun is, and where I can find him."

"It will do you no good," she said. "I have already failed for letting you find me."

"Same deal as him," Jacen offered sincerely. "A chance to disappear."

"You don't _get_ it, do you?" She asked. "There is no disappearing from Black Sun. If they want to find you, they'll hunt you to the corners of the known galaxy."

"I have friends in the unknown regions," Jacen said. "Powerful friends that would not tolerate the corruption of the Black Sun by any means. They can protect you."

"No, they can't."

A small crack from her mouth caught Jacen's attention and he grabbed her by the jaw. The smell of almonds wafted up at him, turning his stomach. Using the Force he pulled as much of the liquid from her mouth, but she had already swallowed most of the cyanide in the capsule and began to breathe rapidly and shake.

Jacen looked around quickly for a supply of water and saw a case of bottles in the corner of the room. He yanked one of the bottles across the room to his hand and began pouring it into the woman's mouth, using the Force to relax her muscles and force her to swallow it. As the water gurgled down her throat, he adjusted the chemical composition of it, increasing the strength of the antidote as she drank it to counteract the hystotoxic hypoxia effect of the cyanide. When all the water had gurgled down her throat, Jacen stepped back to Zara's side.

"I didn't expect them to have suicide pills," Jacen said. "We'll have to watch for that as we move up the chain."

"What did you do?"

"Hopefully I counteracted the poison."

The woman took that as her cue to wake up and cough. When she realized what happened, she looked up and saw Jacen and Zara glaring down at her.

"Ready to tell me what I want?" Jacen asked. "Or do you have some other way you want to fail killing yourself by?"

The woman looked at him bitterly. "Who is it you know in the Unknown Regions?"

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The value of the information gained from Jaan Waba, the Black Sun agent that Jacen had offered sanctuary to, proved to be far greater than he had initially expected. With a bit of Jedi motivation, she revealed not only the names and home bases of two Vigos, but also her suspicions on how the Black Sun came to power. If her suspicions were accurate, the problem was much bigger than Jacen had considered.

After dropping Jaan off at Commenor with the means to arrive at Black Vornskr safe house and a bit of a memory wipe for safety, Jacen and Zara returned to space and tapped into the Holonet to update Darth Krayt on their progress. Despite being a forearm-high holographic image, Krayt was still able to make Zara radiate fear.

"What's up, sunshine?" Jacen asked. "Lose any more warriors to the Jedi?"

"Report." Krayt ordered Zara, ignoring the irritating Jedi.

"We have a lead on two Vigos within the Black Sun," she said. "And an insider's suspicion on the identity of the new leader."

"Continue your investigation and report in when you have _facts_," Krayt said and broke the connection from his end.

"You will do yourself no favours by bothering him," Zara said. "I suggest you try to make an ally of him before you lose the chance."

"He needs me more than I'll ever need him," Jacen reminded her. "The only reason I'm in on this is to eliminate a threat to the Jedi. It just happens our goals are aligned."

Zara eyed him suspiciously, as if to get a better understanding of him as he worked the controls of the ship.

"Koros, Corporate Sector, or Bastion?" Jacen asked.

"You don't really believe the rumour she told us, do you?"

"Koros is the strongest lead and the closest destination," Jacen said. "But our target may suspect something is going on when Jaan doesn't report in since Koros is outside of both the Jedi and Bogan political movements. Bastion is probably second best for reliability, and I still have a couple contacts in the Imperial administration that might be able to help us."

Jacen leaned back in his chair and turned to face his partner.

"CorpSec is just a long shot right now."

"Koros, then," Zara said indifferently. "I'm not afraid of Black Sun scum."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

For two days the _Slave IV_ had slowly crept around the Bogan shipyard using passive scanners and the cloaking field to gather as much information as possible while evading detection and deploying the mines they had purchased. They developed their plan as they went along, slowly refining the details until they were both satisfied that they would succeed.

"I still don't like it," Han said. "Seems like a suicide mission."

"It _is_ a suicide mission," Fett reminded him. "We're going to die today, Han. No other way around it."

Han shook his head but said nothing for a minute as he studied their plan once more. He stood up and slapped Fett on the shoulder.

"Let's get the last of those bombs together, buddy."

Han set off toward the cargo bay when he heard a metallic clang behind him. He turned around and saw Fett sprawled on the floor, one hand against his armoured chest, the other against his head.

"Fett!" Han shouted and knelt down beside the Mandalorian. "What is it? I'll get a med kit."

"Don't bother," Fett grunted and forced himself to breathe. "It'll pass."

"Like hell…"

"I said we were going to die," Fett said grimacing against the pain as he tried to sit up. "It'll happen one way or the other. My organs are failing and nothing but death can stop it."

Han nodded and grabbed Fett by the arm, pulling him to his feet.

"Together," Han said, looking Fett in his eyes.

"Together," Fett replied.

A warning from the console caught their attention and together they hobbled over to read the alarm.

"The worker ships are retreating," Fett said, reading the Mandalorian script on the console faster than Han could translate it in his head. "The ship must be ready to launch."

"We'll have to stop that one, too," Han said. "You do know that the bombs won't crack through that armour from the outside."

"It would be too simple otherwise, right?" Fett replied with a grim smile.

"Right."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Mara turned and sprinted away from Targo, pushing over a table and ducking behind it as chunks of charred Hutt were launched across the room, splattering nearly everything and everyone in direct line of sight. The patrons and employees screamed and scattered, providing Mara the distraction needed to escape the room without the YVH droids having a direct line of sight to fire at her.

She sprinted through the wide corridor toward where Jabba had kept his prisoners and threw herself sideways when a blaster bolt nearly put a hole between her shoulder blades. She lashed out with her lightsaber and caught the bolt with perfect timing to send it right back at the optical sensor of the pursuing YVH droid. She ducked down another corridor and found the long row of cells, some with prisoner arms hanging out of them. About half way down the corridor she stopped on intuition and looked to the right. Alone, curled up on the bed with her back against the wall and her forehead on her knees, was a head of red hair.

"Ami, get up," Mara shouted and slashed at the bars with her lightsaber. On intuition she side stepped another blaster bolt and deflected several more off her lightsaber, returning them to the YVH droids with uncanny precision. "Now!"

The girl in the cell looked up at her and scowled.

"Karrde sent _you_?"

"Karrde's dead," Mara said, finally turning to face the YVH droids. "Shada sent me. You have something I need."

"Karrde's dead? Then I'm definitely I'm not going anywhere with you."

Mara bit back a curse and caught a blaster bolt on the palm of her hand. Using the Force, she amplified it and launched it back at the YVH droids, blasting through two of them at once with the enhanced blaster bolt. With another flick of the Force, she ripped the head off another one and launched it a fourth, disabling all the current pursuants at once. She pulled her blaster out and shot it over Ami's shoulder, nearly causing her to jump off the bed with surprise.

"What the hell is wrong with you!?" Ami shouted. "First you leave me, now you're shooting at me?"

"Aren't you a little old for the wounded teenager routine?" Mara asked. "Get your ass out here or I'll drag you out!"

Ami reluctantly got up and grabbed her backpack from the corner of the room. Mara yanked a YVH blaster rifle to her hand and tossed it to Ami. She could hear more of the YVH droids approaching, and it sounded like there were a lot more.

"Not exactly the best plan, eh?" Ami said. "Maybe I should stay here where it's safe."

"Not going to happen," Mara muttered and pressed a finger to the device on her ear. "Ben? Are you in position?"

The ground shook from a not-too-distant explosion, and Mara smiled.

"What was that?" Ami asked.

"_We're getting into position right now_," Ben reported. "_We'll aim five metres north of your position_."

"Go south," Mara said. "Ami, get back in the cell."

"Didn't I just...?"

Mara grabbed her by the arm and pushed her back into the tiny room as a dozen YVH droids came around the corner. A second later the ground shook like an angry rancor and streams of sand fell from the ceiling around them.

"_All set!_"

Mara grabbed Ami's arm again and pulled her out of the cell against her protests to the new hole in the ceiling, under which a dozen YVH droids rested in pieces. Looking up through the new tunnel, Mara could see her ship hovering above them lowering a cable down from the ventral hatch as planned.

"You take the line up," Mara said. "I'll be right behind you."

"I still don't..."

Mara grabbed the descending line, wrapped it around Ami's arms and chest with a self-tightening loop before she could complain and sent the signal through the Force for Ben to retract the line.

"This is _not_ safe!" Ami screamed, but Mara turned away. While Ami screamed various profanities from multiple languages as she ascended up the hole, Mara grabbed three of the explosives from her belt and threw them down the hallway toward the next oncoming wave of YVH droids, but used the Force to redirect them to the ceiling. As Ami cleared the hole, Mara used the Force to jump out and triggered the explosives, burying the droids with sand and rock from the bored tunnel. Mara waited on the surface of Tattooine for the still screaming and cursing Ami to disappear into the ship above her before she made another Force-enhanced jump into the ventral hatch. She grabbed onto the rungs of the ladder and pulled herself up so she could close the hatch beneath her feet. After an empathic pulse to Ben, she felt the ship angle upwards and accelerate out of the atmosphere.

"You crazy _bitch_!" Ami shouted down at Mara as the older woman used the Force to release her from the cable and lower her to the deck. Her cheeks were flushed red from shouting. "You almost got me killed!"

"You're welcome!" Mara shouted back, climbing out of the hatch access tunnel to the deck inside the common area. She felt the ship shudder slightly and knew they had broken through the atmosphere.

"Why couldn't you just stay out of my life?" Ami demanded, her face glowing a brighter red. "You didn't think the last thirty years were worth your time, but _now_ you're interested?"

"I need your help," Mara said evenly. "I would've broken out anyone who was in that cell if they knew what you know."

"So _I'm_ still too insignificant for you to care about? Well you can go shove whatever it is you want right up your..."

"What is going on here?" Ben's meek voice came from across the room. Mara and Ami both turned to look at him and he noticed that their hair colour and facial features were nearly identical. "Why are you shouting at each other? And...who are you?"

"No," Ami said in disbelief and rounded on Mara again. "You _didn't_! You didn't tell him about me?! You are one _seriously_ messed up_pathetic_ _excuse_..."

"Ben," Mara interrupted wearily. "This is Amidala Jade. She is your sister."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

General Stragoron's fleet dropped out of hyperspace around Shumogi, joining up with General Pulastra's fleet to create a blockade consisting of nearly a thousand Black Vornskr capital ships. The space around Shumogi, a sparsely inhabited planet with a large population of Bogan supporters, lit up with more activity than it had seen in almost five hundred years as the ships took up formation around the undefended planet.

Eriana began issuing orders, directing her fleets to begin preparations. She ordered the cargo from Fondor transferred to General Pulastra's ships, ships to deploy in a defensive array, ships to attack military bases on the planet, and battle strategies prepared for the inevitable confrontation. After three hours, all they had left to do was wait.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-


	16. Rampage

**Chapter 14 - Rampage**

Zara fell to her knees at Jacen's feet, wavering for a moment of semi-consciousness before dropping to the ground with an audible thunk. He looked at her grimly and tightened the grip on his two lightsabers – his own green one in his right hand and his brother's violet one in his left – as they buzzed like a swarm of angry insects on either side of him. He stepped over her body and assessed his surroundings. He was in a round metal pit about twenty metres in diameter with three storey tall walls broken only by four equidistant dark, gated hallways. Fifteen snipers made his skin crawl as they trained their weapons over him from their vantage points above the walls. And there was the one short, fat Black Sun Vigo, Carmine Pocobello, looking down at Jacen from beside one of the snipers.

"You didn't think the Black Sun was unprepared for Jedi and Sith attackers, did you?" Pocobello asked.

"I'll give you some credit," Jacen called up. "The trap door was very well hidden, and the nerve gas was a nice touch. You're doing quite well so far."

"I designed it myself."

"Yes, well, I'm afraid I have to interrogate you now," Jacen said. "I promise if you tell me what I want willingly I won't have to hurt you and your men."

A chorus of laughs echoed through the chamber.

"Jedi, _you_ are the one who is trapped," Pocobello shouted. "You are in no position to negotiate. But I like your style, so instead of torturing you I'll kill you quickly. Open fire, boys!"

Blaster bolts rained down on Jacen from above. With a flash of green and purple, the bolts were returned to sender, leaving Jacen standing perfectly still in anticipation. After a second's pause, several of the bodies of the snipers slammed into the ground around him. He looked back up at Pocobello and shook his head.

"We can do this the hard way if you really want to," Jacen said. "But my offer is still open."

Pocobello disappeared from view and seconds ticked by like hours until the four gates around Jacen opened up. Each gate produced its own ominous threat. From the left gate a row of yellow teeth appeared, proceeded only by a pair of heavy club-like two-fingered claws. The face came next, revealing a broad forehead nearly four metres off the ground.

_Aga_, Jacen thought. _Semi-sentient, from Zelos II. Probably hungry, too._

The right gate produced a yelping whine before a several-metre long stretch of fur came barreling out. The Gellbeast, also known as a Wardog, swung its head back and howled, revealing a row of vicious teeth as its sharp canine claws scratched against the metal ground – a sign of preparation for the hunt.

The third gate, directly in front of Jacen, exhibited a huffing sound, like a large baffle squeezing air out and sucking it back in. A short, sharp nose came into the light as the giant orange and white beast stomped its way into the light, slowly revealing a pair of webbed arms and feet. It took Jacen a minute to recognize it as a jungle rancor, one of the few creatures he had only ever heard about and never seen so much as a picture of. A cross breed between a common rancor and several more amphibious creatures, the jungle rancor was much more unpredictable than its common cousin from Dathomir.

The last door, directly behind Jacen, produced no sound as the others had. Using the Force, Jacen picked up the feline presence of a nexu staring at him with all its eyes as it softly padded its way out of its cell.

"Is this the best you can do?" Jacen called out. "I have to say, I'm very disappointed in the Black Sun if you think _this_ is how you can kill a Jedi. Do you know _nothing_ about your prey?"

Pocobello reappeared at his high vantage point, this time wearing body armour and carrying a heavy repeating blaster.

"I've seen four Jedi killed by my beasts," he gloated. "I'll be happy to add your lightsabers to my collection. Please don't let my rancor eat your lightsabers – the stench of rancor dung lingers for months."

As Pocobello spoke, more snipers took up position around the arena, and without Zara, Jacen was outnumbered fifteen to one.

Adjusting the grip on his lightsabers, Jacen closed his eyes and drew his mind into the Force. His mind touched those around him and he became the calm centre of the galaxy of spinning emotions and desires around him. He felt anticipation, excitement, fear, and other instincts too primal to name swirl around him, letting his mind slow time and take advantage of every millisecond to sense, evaluate, and let the Force guide him in planning his path through the murky depths of reality around him.

He sensed the four animals, ready to pounce on command and execute their orders to tear their enemy apart.

He sensed snipers, tightening their grips on their blasters and focusing their scopes on him.

He sensed Pocobello, ready to watch the carnage unleash beneath him for his own entertainment.

And he did not give a shavit.

The future planned out for him was ugly. But his plan for the future was uglier still.

His eyes shot open, and he let his future became reality.

The jungle rancor ran forward and jumped at Jacen. The nexu, quickly followed by the gellbeast, sprinted toward Jacen and leapt high. The snipers began shooting.

And Jacen jumped high in the air, almost hovering at eye-height with the snipers for five seconds while his glare locked with Pocobello.

"Last chance to surrender before I kick your ass!" Jacen shouted at Pocobello, his eyes blazing with wild Force-enhanced intensity.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"I have a _sister_?" Ben asked. "But, she, you, you're, like, Jaina's age. They weren't married until..."

"After Thrawn was killed off she got a little cozy with Skywalker during the post-battle celebration," Ami snapped and stretched her arms out. "And _here I am_. But _she_ was too busy being groomed for the Smuggler's Alliance to be a mother, and too _embarrassed_ by me to tell Skywalker the truth."

"That is not true," Mara said. "I..."

"So you finally _did_ tell him?"

"No, but..."

"_Dad_ doesn't know about her?" Ben demanded. The helpless guilty look on his mom's face was all the answer he needed.

"She put me up for adoption," Ami interrupted angrily. "Karrde told me all about it when I turned eighteen. She thought Talon found me a nice safe home somewhere across the galaxy where she'd never see me again, but _he_ took care of me. _He's_ the one who put me through training, _he's_ the one who gave me a job, and he's the one who told me the _truth! And now he's dead!_ Did you kill him, too?"

The question made something in Mara snap.

"Karrde was my friend!" Mara shouted back, shoving Ami back about a metre with the Force while tears trickled down her cheeks. "I tried to contact you and you never replied!"

"I deleted your messages," Ami said. "If I wasn't good enough for you as a baby, I could never live up to your expectations _now_, super-Jedi mother. I don't even _want_ to."

Ami grabbed her backpack and ran off toward the rear of the ship, and Mara ran toward the front. Ben stood in stunned silence for a minute looking back and forth at the two corridors the women had disappeared through.

"I just wanted to know where we were going next," Ben muttered to the empty room. He pressed a button on the wall intercom and told Artoo to stay in high orbit around Tattooine, but to keep a look out for anything that might attack.

Unsure what to do next, Ben decided to head to the stern of the ship. Inside the main cargo hold he found Ami sitting against one of the outer walls with her knees pulled up to her chest.

"Hey," Ben said tentatively.

"Hi," Ami said. She looked up at him, and he could not help but notice how much she looked like holos of their mom when she was young. She looked him over with the calculating glare he knew so well from Mara, but her eyes offered none of the motherly warmth he was used to. "It's Ben, right? I'm sorry you got caught in the middle of that. I thought you'd be asking for answers from your mom."

Ben noticed the way she referred to their mother, but chose to ignore it.

"I wanted to meet my sister first," Ben smiled weakly. "I've never had one. Isn't it supposed to be us against the parents?"

Ami laughed softly and patted the bare floor beside her. Ben sat down and Ami put an arm around him, squeezing him into an awkward sideways hug.

"You seem like a good kid, Ben. Thanks for pulling me out of there. I suppose here is better than rotting in some Hutt cell on that crappy excuse for a planet."

Ben smiled uncomfortably, not sure how to take his new, and much older, sister, so he decided to change the topic.

"So what do you know that we need to know?"

"Damned if I know," Ami removed her arm from around Ben and went back to hugging her legs. "What are you looking for? Maybe if I know that I can help."

"You'd be willing to help us?"

Ami looked at him and assessed the look on his face. She must have seen some hint of desperation in his eyes as she scanned his face because her look softened a bit. "I'm willing to help _you_. I think I owe you one."

Considering that to be the best he would get, Ben nodded and stood up. He offered her a hand, which she took to help herself to her feet. Ben brought her to the end of the cargo bay closest to the front of the ship and stopped in front of the long side of a large crate sitting on the ground. He pressed some buttons on the side of the panel and the lid released. He opened it to reveal a giant slab of carbonine and the peaceful, if grotesque-looking figure half embedded inside it.

"That's our dad," Ben said as emotionlessly as he could. "Luke Skywalker. He's been infected with a poison. The carbonite is to slow down the infection."

"Yeah, it should preserve him pretty well," Ami muttered to herself, glancing at the controls but not touching them. "What's he got? Is it contagious?"

"No. It's some sort of modified Yuuzhan Vong poison spore that is attacking his nervous system," Ben said. "We know only one person who can neutralize Vong poisons, and the last time anyone saw him he was captured by Krayt on his command ship. Shada said you were in fleet tracking, so you might have information on where Krayt's ship is."

"I was working in Fleet Procurement and Deployment on Coruscant, monitoring the patrols to ensure proper coverage of inspection routes," Ami said. "But I was shuffled around on a regular rotation about two weeks ago into managing new ship outfits. I don't know if they would notice if I logged into the wrong systems or not – Karrde didn't want me to risk it until my rotation was back in tracking."

"So you have no idea where Jacen is, then," Ben pouted.

"You mean Jacen Solo?"

"Yeah. He's my, um, _our_ cousin."

"Hang on."

Ami removed her backpack and put it on top of Luke's frozen figure. As she spoke she rummaged through the contents looking for something.

"Among many reasons I was doing a data drop on Tattooine was that I did come across a very odd occurrence while processing ship requisitions," Ami said. "A ship was requisitioned by Krayt himself with more surveillance equipment than usual. I don't mean sensor packages; I mean sophisticated tracking and monitoring gear. The weirdest part was that it was being issued to Jacen Solo. I'm sure letting that tidbit of information slip was a mistake on their part. Anything like that pertaining to the list of Jedi that Karrde gave me had to be reported immediately. So I called it in, booked some vacation time, and scheduled a drop on Tattooine."

"But you didn't hand the information over?"

"I met the contact, but I got this really funny vibe when I met him at Targo's," Ami said, still struggling with the contents of her backpack. "I know you guys are all Force sensitive. I am, too, but nobody ever trained _me_ to be a Jedi. I get flashes of intuition from time to time, mostly when bad things are about to happen or reading people's intentions. I could tell this guy was dirty. I called him on it and he tried attacking me. Shada taught me how to fight, so when they arrived and saw his face looking a lot like a nerfburger, those damned YVH droids thought I was trying to kill him, not the other way around. Where _is_ that thing?"

Ami began pulling handfuls of stuff out of the backpack, creating a bit of a nest around her backpack with various bits of clothes and personal items landing all over the carbonite encased form of their father. Ben tried to ignore the bright pink lacy underwear that landed on top of the pile right in front of him, reminding himself that this attractive woman was his _sister_ despite only knowing her for about five minutes.

"And to make a long story short, I got thrown into jail for self defense. Nobody ever said the Hutts were the most just of judges. Ah, here it is!"

Ami held up a small cosmetic shell with a triumphant smile. She opened it carefully and pried off the plastic bottom that held the makeup. Underneath was a tiny clear disk, less than a centimetre in diameter. Ben used the Force to lift it up, gently placing it onto his left index finger nail.

"That's so cool," Ami said in awe. "Can you teach me that?"

"Sure," Ben blushed, happy that he found some small way to impress his big sister. He realized what he said and tried to correct himself. "I mean, I'd like to, but I'm not allowed. The Masters have to train anyone. Dad made that a rule a few years ago. What's on the disk?"

"All the intel I was dropping, including the transmitter codes Krayt is using to track Solo's ship," Ami said. "If you need to find one Jacen Solo, that should lead you directly to his ship."

"You're willing to help us, just like that?" Ben asked.

"I never met him," Ami said, looking back to Luke's frozen figure, now covered in her clothes. "I know _she_ abandoned me without telling him I even existed. Somehow I've always felt that if I ever met my father, he'd be nicer to me than she ever was. If he dies, I'll never know if it's true."

Ben nodded slowly and then pulled Ami into a hug, careful not to drop the disk. When he let her go he was blushing bright red.

"I'll go give this to Artoo," Ben mumbled and turned away from her. He turned back after a second. "You can join me if you want."

"I'll be right there," Ami said, pointing to her strewn about clothes. "After I clean up."

"Mom likes a clean ship," Ben agreed and finally disappeared.

"I bet she does," Ami said and looked around the cargo bay. She looked back at Luke and grabbed a handful of her clothes off his face. "What the hell were you thinking, Skywalker?"

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Jaina hesitated outside of room 8162, building up the courage to face the occupants. She knew one of them, Major Daniels, was likely to make inappropriate remarks about, well, anything, but the other was her bigger concern. She still wanted to avoid Danni Quee, but this was one of those times that she knew there were more important things than her anger toward Jag and Danni. She punched the activation button and the door smoothly slid sideways into the wall, letting her walk in.

The lab was a large dark room with several tables and computers spread out around it. On one table looked like a miniature version of a super laser, which Danni and Daniels were tweaking while consulting some instruments.

"What the frak now?" Daniels muttered. "We're busy! Frag off!"

"Oh, shut up, you demented mynock," Danni muttered under her breath, breaking her usual cool demeanour, but on recognizing Jaina, she resumed a formal composure. "Jaina. How can we help you?"

Jaina held up the data card from Katarn.

"Superlaser schematics," Jaina said. "Got them from Katarn."

Daniels tried to rush over to her, but Danni pushed him back and approached Jaina on her own.

"The original Death Star schematics?" Danni asked.

"Just the laser component," Jaina said, tossing it to Danni. "That's all he had."

"That's all we need," Danni said with a smile. "Thank you, Jaina."

"Whatever."

Jaina turned around and made for the door.

"We didn't want to hurt you," Danni said. "We just became friends and..."

Jaina snapped. She turned around and used the Force to shove Danni across the room, launching the blonde woman several metres where she slammed against the bulkhead and slid down it.

"Just became friends and _what_?" Jaina screamed. "Started fraking each other to keep warm on those cold Csillan nights? You couldn't keep your damned hands off him when you _knew_ he was taken?"

"If he was taken you shouldn't have avoided him for all those years!" Danni shouted back and scrambled to her feet. She stepped right up to Jaina and pushed her. "It's _your_ own fault he drifted away from you, not _mine_! We're not all Jedi robots like you!"

Jaina took a swing at Danni's face, but the scientist was faster than she thought. Danni ducked under the punch and threw her own, which Jaina grabbed and yanked on to send Danni to the ground at her feet. She kicked Danni in the stomach seven times until she heard the scientist gasping for air. Finally realizing what she had done, Jaina ran out of the room.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The nexu and gellbeast used the bulk of the rancor to springboard their jumps off the arena floor and land on the upper ring populated by the snipers where they began to rip the unwitting soldiers apart. Blaster bolts fired off haphazardly as the snipers tried to frantically fire their unwieldy long range weapons at the canine and feline tearing through their ranks.

Jacen dropped onto the rancor's back and gestured to the Aga to begin ripping the arena walls apart. It let out a floor-shaking roar, reared up on its four hind legs, and slammed its two massive front claws into the nearest wall, creating a sizeable dent. Subsequent impacts created a makeshift ramp, and Jacen gestured to the rancor to proceed up the ramp, only after the rancor picked up Zara and held her close to protect her with his thick hide.

With the Aga ripping out a path for the rancor and Jedi to take, Jacen directed their efforts toward where he felt Pocobello had run away down a narrow pathway. The nexu came up to the side of the rancor, showing off her blood-stained teeth in a proud smile of accomplishment for having finished off the snipers, and Jacen dropped to her back. He gestured through the Force where he wanted to go, and the nexu took off at a sprint down the narrow hallway. He had to use the Force to keep himself on the feline and rip the doors out of the way as they raced along with the Aga, rancor, and Gellbeast not far behind.

The Force led Jacen and nexu until he finally saw the stout man running for his life down a long corridor. Four great bounds later and the nexu tackled Pocobello as Jacen hopped off, sending the Vigo into a sprawl across the metal floor. The nexu took up position on one side of the hallway, blocking Pocobello from going any further, and Jacen approached him from the other side, both lightsabers blazing.

Pocobello scrambled to bring his blaster to face Jacen and fired off a shot that was easily deflected, carefully angled to buzz past the Vigo's ear and diffuse against the floor. A flick of Jacen's mind yanked the blaster out of Pocobello's hands, and Jacen's green lightsaber bisected it as it sailed past him down the hall where the two pieces clattered to a halt. He reached out a hand and grabbed Pocobello by the neck with the Force and lifted him into the air, forcing his jaw open. With the Force to guide his intuition, he yanked out one particular tooth to his hand and dropped the Vigo back to the ground.

"Just kill me," Pocobello offered, surprisingly calm. The look of defeat was written all over his pudgy face. "I made a mistake. Don't leave me for them."

"I want details on the Black Sun," Jacen growled. "Names, command structure, operations from the top down, files. Everything."

"Everything is encrypted," Pocobello said. "_I _don't even have access to that information. I have my operation, which you're doing a very good job of destroying, and that's _it_. Every month I pay a percent of my profits to a numbered account on Nar Shadda and they don't kill me."

The Gellbeast came to Jacen's side and the crashing of the Aga and Rancor grew increasingly louder, giving Jacen an idea.

"Here's what I'll do for you," Jacen said, crouching down to Pocobello's height and deactivating his lightsabers. "If you give me everything you have on the Black Sun, I'll let you live. If you don't, I'll give each of your four pets a limb to chew on _very, very slowly_, until you do. Understand?"

The nexu licked the side of Pocobello's face to emphasize her new master's point, but he looked back at Jacen with indifference.

"I told you, I'm already dead. The Black Sun will find me. I'm better off telling you nothing. No Jedi would ever do what they will do to me."

The Aga finally arrived, rancor waiting just behind with Zara still cradled in his arms. Leaving the nexu and gellbeast to guard his prisoner, Jacen retrieved Zara and used the Force to heal and revive her from the effects of the poison. Her eyelids fluttered open and Jacen smiled at her. She looked up at the Aga staring back at her, then at the nexu and gellbeast guarding the Black Sun Vigo.

"New friends?"

"You were too busy napping to help out," Jacen said reasonably and gestured back at Pocobello. "He doesn't want to talk."

"Threaten him with the pets?"

"Yeah. He didn't budge."

"What about making him think he's a three year old girl for the rest of his life?"

"Too late. He already is."

"Hey, I'm right here!" Pocobello called out. "I can hear you!"

"Only one thing to do."

"Indeed," Zara said with a grim tone. "We'll have to take him with us."

"What?"

Jacen turned to Pocobello. "We'll take you with us. Keep you safe from the Black Sun."

Evident confusion crossed Pocobello's face until identical malicious grins broke out on Jacen and Zara's faces.

"And teach you what pain really is all about."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The Shumogi system enjoyed a rare feature where nearly the entire solar system was spherically surrounded by asteroids. The outermost planet, a giant almost entirely comprised of silicon, had been struck by a rogue planetoid millions of years ago and they shattered each other. The remains of the two planets had evenly scattered around the solar system, providing a large bubble of debris that provided only two safe entrances into the solar system – directly above and below the sun. This bubble had deterred Shumogi, the only inhabitable planet in the system, from being colonized until the beginning of Palpatine's Empire. Consisting of a small population loyal to a dictatorial style of governance, Shumogi had been selected as a data warehouse facility to back up all of the Bogan Empire's data on Coruscant. While all of the data was heavily encrypted and stored kilometres below the ground, making theft of the data a difficult and pointless exercise, Shumogi was essential to the protection of the Bogan Empire's data.

Being largely self-sufficient, a blockade had little effect on the planet. However, parking an interdictor on the holonet relay and jamming the incoming backup signal from Coruscant did attract a lot of attention. And if there was one thing Eriana Fostenon and her Black Vornskrs wanted right now, it was the attention of the Bogan Fleet.

"One _Obsidian_ class Bogan Destroyer has entered the system." Eriana caught the announcement and opened her eyes. She was standing in front of the main window on the bridge of a Mark-II Victory class Star Destroyer, searching for her centre in the Force before the battle began. "They're approaching from the bottom of the system."

"Initiate the attack on the decoys," Eriana ordered, taking her place at the main tactical display in the centre of the bridge. "Deploy the wall and signal Cooper with the enemy ship trajectory and a four minute countdown. Launch all fighters to escort duty and send the activation signal to the gravity mines. Have our interdictors prepare to engage on my mark."

The crew sprung into activity, and Eriana imagined the bridges of every ship in her fleet becoming a hub of controlled chaos. She brought her attention to the display in front of her and watched as the six decoys, Bogan allied corvettes stolen from Fondor, crawled across the screen toward the Bogan destroyer, followed by thirty Vornskr capital ships firing at them.

"The decoys' distress signal is going out with the authentication codes we stole at Fondor," the sensor officer reported. "Decoy shields are holding for now. They're getting a response...they're being ordered to take cover behind the destroyer while it attacks us."

"Signal the simulators to execute Plan A," Eriana said and punched a button on her console. "Viper and Python groups: get in there and engage at point blank range. Archers and Hunters, jump to your assigned coordinates and hit 'em hard."

The four fleet groups powered up from their hiding points within the solar system and performed a synchronized microjump into their designated formations, each formation consisting of nearly two hundred and fifty ships each. Ships with long range weapons, like the Mandalorian _Aggressor_-class destroyers and those with Hapan-designed turbolasers kept their distance while the _Keldabe-_class_, _Imperial_, _andvariousother capital ships raced toward the lone Bogan Destroyer. The Vipers dropped into formation above the Bogan Destroyer, the Pythons below, and the Archers and Hunters assembled on either side of it with a clear line of fire to launch their long-range weapons. While they pummeled the shields of the Bogan Destroyer, it spat back angry bursts of energy in all directions, pounding into the shields of the Black Vornskr ships while ignoring the decoy ships that seemed to be doing nothing but cowering in fear near the back of the Destroyer.

"Main weapon firing."

Eriana watched as the three-pronged weapon on the top of the Bogan Destroyer began to glow and coalesce into the centre of the weapon. It lanced out, and Eriana smiled as the energy dissipated against the wall – a trio of planetary shield generators mounted on the nose of Pulastra's Super Star Destroyer, the largest target in the entire Vornskr fleet.

"The _Intimidator_ is reporting that the wall is burned out! Enemy superlaser is recharging."

"Alright, Vornskrs, we've got two minutes! All fighters break escort and attack the Destroyer!" Eriana shouted. "How are those decoys doing?"

"Five seconds to detonation!"

Eriana turned her attention to the real-time camera and watched as the hulls of the decoy ships began glowing red. The ships stolen from the attack on Fondor had been packed with the asteroids from Pulastra's raid and combined with the crated engines stolen by the Raider teams on Fondor. Each of the corvette engines strapped to the surface of an iron-rich asteroid and angled at the Bogan Destroyer provided eighty four balls of high energy molten plasma exploding toward the shields of the Bogan Destroyer like giant claymore mines. Added to the explosive capacity of an overloaded engine core and the many weapons of over a thousand attacking capital and assault ships, the six decoy ships exploded with enough power to severely deplete the shields of the Bogan Destroyer.

"Enemy shields showing twenty percent and dropping!" the tactical officer announced.

"Redouble firepower," Eriana shouted back. "Focus all fire on the shield arrays, weapon systems and engines, but leave that superlaser alone. Signal General Cooper to jump his fleet now. Tell all commanders to keep their strongest shields toward that ship and keep cycling through fresh laser batteries."

Pure destructive power rained down on the Bogan Destroyer as the Vornskrs fired everything from turbolasers to mass drivers with merciless brutality. Fighters and other combat ships began pouring out of the hanger bays, but the overwhelming onslaught of the incoming fire shredded their ranks, allowing the Destroyer only a brief reprieve from the onslaught of the pirate fleet. Hundreds of fighters rushed to their deaths, and General Cooper's fleet finally dropped in from hyperspace behind the Destroyer.

"Their shields are failing," Eriana's tactical officer shouted. "Registering explosions all over the hull. Their weapons and outer hull are being decimated."

"All ships, ion cannons only!" Eriana called out over a fleet wide broadcast. "Repeat, ion cannons only! Shoot to disable!"

The space around the fleet changed from a multicoloured glow to a steady pulse of blue ion cannon blasts hammering the Bogan Destroyer and causing giant ripples of energy to play across the hull...except from the rear.

"Sir, General Cooper's fleet is still using turbolasers and torpedoes," Eriana's tactical officer reported.

"Signal him to cease fire..." Eriana was interrupted by a bright flash of light as the engines on the Bogan Destroyer flared up. "_Cooper, cease fire_ _immediately!_"

The Bogan Destroyer exploded internally, cracking the hull in half down the length, splitting it into two almost perfectly even parallelograms. Eriana watched in horror as the two ship parts drifted in space and Cooper's ships continued to attack. She slammed her fist on the broadcast fleetwide button and screamed into the microphone.

"General Cooper, stop firing or I'll kill you myself! Someone take that bastard into custody!"

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-


	17. Challenges

Onimi - what, you think Jedi can't have a one night stand? ;)

Chapter 15 - Challenges

Within a few minutes of running around the massive stolen Mandalorian ship to get away from Danni, Jaina realized that she was utterly lost. She could not remember the last time that she lost control like that. _If_ she had ever lost control like that before.

"It was my fault, not Danni's," Jaina said aloud in the empty hallway. "My fault."

Several minutes later she turned down another hallway and nearly walked right into Wedge.

"Hi Jaina," Wedge said brightly. "I was just on my way to check in with Danni. The Vornskrs have been putting pressure on me to get back into the fight. Want to come for a walk?"

"I-I want to join Rogue Squadron," Jaina blurted breathlessly. "You need the best pilots out there and I'm one of them."

"Jaina, I need good people _everywhere_." Wedge laughed. "What's wrong?"

"You don't want to..."

Wedge grabbed her shoulder hard, interrupting her deflection. His steeled glare froze her in place as she looked up at him with wide eyes. "Yeah, I do."

Jaina broke eye contact and pulled away from his grip. She leaned against the hallway wall, folded her arms across her chest, and stared at Wedge's boots.

"I...I lost my temper," Jaina said. "I think I hurt Danni."

"Is this about Jag?"

"You _knew_?" Her head shot up and she looked at him with an accusing stare.

"About _my_ _nephew_ getting engaged?"

"Right," Jaina said dejectedly. "I didn't think _everyone_ except me knew about it."

"Jaina, this tells me two things," Wedge said. "One, you're too emotional to be in a cockpit."

Before Jaina could protest, Wedge held up a finger to silence her. "And, two, you're still in full control of your faculties if you realize what you did is wrong."

"If you want me scrubbing the garbage compactors..."

"I want you to be an admiral."

"_What_?" Jaina demanded. "I just beat the crap out of one of your Colonels. If anything, you should be court marshalling me."

"We don't have the luxury of being picky right now because you got wound up about an ex-boyfriend," Wedge responded. "I have a fleet that needs an admiral and a veteran of the last war looking for things to do. It's a perfect fit."

"I'm supposed to be doing courier missions for you."

"Anyone can do that."

"I have thousands of hours in a cockpit. I have no idea how to run a fleet."

"Your dad was a general in the rebellion when he was your age, and you have years of training and experience he didn't have," Wedge said. "Given this outburst I don't want you in a cockpit; that much is for sure. But I do need someone to take on the fifth fleet and you can do a lot less damage as an admiral where we can keep an eye on you."

Jaina regarded him angrily for several seconds before replying. "You're frakin' crazy. You know that, right?"

"Jaina, I came out of retirement for this," Wedge replied. "You haven't even met crazy yet. And you're not going to talk me out of it."

"Will you keep Danni away from me?"

"I can't promise that," Wedge admitted. "But I will say that the Fifth Fleet isn't really a combat fleet. It's made up of all the ships that have been damaged and need repairs, so you'll mostly be managing engineers and technicians. I've heard how good of a mechanic you are, and I thought this would be a good way for you to use your unique blend of skills to both fix up a fleet and learn some command skills to get you ready for a bigger chair. You might run into her during refits, but if you're half as good a mechanic as your uncle told me you are, you can probably handle the refits with your own crew."

Jaina smiled slightly. She had to admit to herself, she _was_ happiest when she was working on machines. Being able to fix something while everything else was falling apart around her brought her a special calm that nothing else seemed to bring.

"Fine. I'll do it. But remember: you asked me."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Almost an hour after Fett had collapsed, the _Slave IV_ docked just below an airlock on the newly completed Bogan Obsidian Class Destroyer using the magnetic clamps to hold the two ships together. To prevent detection, Han and Fett approached the airlock using nearly identical suits of Mandalorian armour to hold back the vacuum of space.

"Who knew you had two of these?" Han asked over their encrypted communication channel, gesturing to his blue suit.

"Me," Fett said in a tone of voice indicating that he felt he was answering the dumbest question ever posed in the history of the universe. "That one was my dad's."

"And you kept wearing that beat up piece of scrap instead of switching to this one?" Han asked, gesturing to the pristine condition of his armour in comparison to Fett's scratched and dented set.

"Mandalorian armour is extremely durable," Fett said defensively. He pointed to the dent in the helmet. "But I did most of this myself. See this one? I told everyone that I got it when hunting Jedi. Chucked a boulder at my head with the Force."

"What really happened?" Han asked as he reached the airlock control panel and pulled the casing off.

"Accidentally dropped my helmet off a balcony on Coruscant," Fett said bitterly. "Took me three days to find the damn thing. Some kind of mutant womprat made a nest in it. Do you know how hard it is to get the mutant womprat shavit smell out of a Mandalorian helmet?"

"Yeah, I'd stick to the Jedi hunting story, too," Han admitted. He crossed two wires and a red light on the panel turned green indicating a hard seal had been achieved between two airlocks. "Well, look at that. The system was easier to fool than I thought."

"Ready to open the airlock?" Fett asked.

"Didn't I just say that?"

Fett rolled his eyes, even though Han couldn't see them.

"When you open the airlock, the air will rush out," Fett said, deciding to respond to Han's sarcasm with a lecture. "We'll have to fight against it to get in."

"Yeah, this was my plan," Han reminded Fett with more sarcasm. "Trick the airlock into thinking a ship is here so it wouldn't raise any alarms."

"Just open the damned thing," Fett said, readying himself to rush the escaping air.

"One…Two…"

"Wait," Fett interrupted. "We go on three, or four?"

"One-two-three-go," Han barked. "It isn't that hard."

"But is it on the three, or on the go?" Fett asked. "Because the go would be four."

Han's helmet turned to regard Fett, and the Mandalorian could swear he could feel Han's gaze boring holes through his head. "You don't work with partners often, do you?"

"What was your first clue?"

"On three, you old tin can. One, two, _three_!"

Han triggered the airlock before Fett could protest and reached into it against the rush of escaping air to grab the handrail just inside the airlock. Despite the small space of the airlock, he knew that the way he had rigged the system the environmental system would not know to shut the airflow off from the rest of the ship, creating a continuous vortex of air impeding their progress. He pulled himself with all his might, swinging a leg through the door and hooked his ankle against the handrail. He used the leverage to pull the rest of himself in, leaving his hand out, still holding the two wires together that kept the airlock, door open. He glanced over at Fett and saw the old clone similarly braced against the opposite handrail, giving him a thumbs-up. Han flicked the two wires apart and yanked his hand back just in time to avoid losing it in the airlock doors as they slammed shut. They both were yanked to the ground by the gravity system and landed heavily on their feet, but neither fell down.

"That was easy," Fett said nonchalantly, even though Han could hear him breathing heavy. "Where to?"

"Two options," Han said, still resting against the wall. "Weapons and power generators. Both go boom."

"We could split up."

"Nah," Han said and shoved himself off the wall. "Where's the fun in that?"

"The weapons will probably be better defended," Fett said. "More potential to be caught."

"Then let's go there," Han said and pulled his blaster pistol from the holster. "You said you wanted to go out with a bang, right?"

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Jacen sat in the pilot seat of _Fang_ staring at a nebula as it gracefully floated in space as it had for millenniums past, and would for millennia in the future, contemplating the information that seemed to be overwhelming his brain. While he stared at the nebula, he hardly noticed the beauty of the colours and gentle contours. His mind was on the disturbing flashes of insight he was getting into Jaina's life through their twin bond, the potentially worsening state of his uncle's condition, and the lengths they had to go to get the information from Pocobello.

Zara did the one thing Jacen decided to never do – she had ripped information so forcefully from Pocobello's mind that it killed him. He hadn't spoken to her since he saw the gleam of insane pleasure in her eye as she told him what she learned, and watched as Pocobello's lifeless body slumped to the deck plating with blood pouring out of his eyes, ears and nose. While he wanted to extract the information from Pocobello, causing harm was not what he had in mind.

Jacen heard the door to the refresher open, and Zara sat down in the co-pilot's seat beside him. He stared out the window adamantly, refusing to give her the satisfaction of him breaking his silence.

"Thank you," Zara finally said. Jacen turned to look at her and, to his surprise, saw a look of genuine appreciation in her eyes. "You saved my life. No other Bogan would have made the effort."

"You're welcome," Jacen said. "I'm still upset with you."

"I know," Zara said. "Call it a difference of professional opinion on interrogation. But...you have gained my respect, Jedi. If I am sorry for anything, it is if I betrayed that."

Jacen's response was interrupted by her placing her hand on his arm. He looked at her angrily, but a desperate look in her eyes caught him off guard.

"Jacen, there is something you need to know," Zara said. "Lord Krayt gave me another mission, one I know I cannot fulfill. He wanted me to seduce you. He felt that if the power of the Dark Side was not enough to sway you to join him, I might be."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I owe you," Zara said with a measure of newfound humility. "And I want you to be prepared in case..."

The appearance of Darth Krayt's holographic image on the module between Jacen and Zara cut off her statement.

"Report," Krayt barked.

Jacen leaned back and crossed his arms, letting Zara take over.

"Lord Krayt," she said, her demeanour instantly changed from sad solemnity to stern professional. "We have learned the identity of the new Underlord of the Black Sun."

"Excellent," Krayt said. "Proceed to Umbara immediately. I will meet you at our base there to discuss."

As soon as the image of Krayt disappeared, Jacen stood up.

"Plot the course. I'm going to bed."

"I used to dance," Zara said softly. The vulnerability in her voice stopped him in his tracks. "You asked what I did for fun. On Ryloth we all learned how to dance. It was our culture, but it had been twisted into perversion by slave traders across the galaxy. I...we were eight when they came for us. They killed my parents and took me and my sisters. My sisters were older than me. They tried fighting, to protect me...and they died. I lost my family that night. And my freedom."

"So you joined the Bogan to win it back?"

"Four years later Wyyrlok found me," Zara continued as if he hadn't spoken. "He sensed the Force within me and freed me from slavery. I was a broken shell of a girl. I spent years in training, learning how to fight so I could be strong again. I fought harder than any of my peers. But today, that wasn't enough. Today, I would have been dead if not for a Jedi I swore to kill."

After a moment of silence, Jacen finally spoke. "Do you still dance?"

"Not since I met Wyyrlok," Zara said. "Dancing became my prison. I do not want to be reminded of it now that I'm free."

Jacen turned around and noticed she was still looking out the window into the depths of space. He put a hand on her shoulder and whispered softly in her ear. "Zara, _nobody_ who follows the Sith is free. You traded one master for another."

Zara shot out of the chair and jumped to her full height, her eyes blazing yellow and red as she drew from the dark side of the Force. "The Sith set me free! You don't know the hell I lived through while you went to your posh schools and..."

Jacen gently put his right index finger against her mouth, silencing her. He was surprised it actually worked, but he suspected the sad sincerity in his face worked in his favour.

"I'm not going to debate origin stories," Jacen said, removing his finger from her lips and putting his hand on her shoulder again. "And I'm not going to get preachy on you. But I want you to think about two things. The first one is, right now you're working for Krayt, doing his bidding, and all you ever get is a pat on the head. You'll never be more than an assassin, doing what he wants you to do until you get killed on a mission, and I don't think you really have much more ambition than that."

Zara swallowed hard, still staring at Jacen, but the yellow and red faded from her eyes, returning to their natural blue. Her lack of protest, he took as a sign that she realized the truth in his words.

"The other?"

"Everyone should have something to fight for," Jacen answered. "I fight to protect my family, friends and justice. Some people fight for money, prestige, or galactic domination. You should figure out what's really important to you, because I don't think it is being someone else's lacky."

Jacen finally retreated and made it to his bunk, but that night Zara spent a long time staring into the depths of hyperspace.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Eriana, still wearing her Jensaraai armour, watched the salvage process of the Bogan Destroyer from the bridge of her Victory II Star Destroyer with a quiet demeanour that both puzzled and terrified her crew. After General Cooper had destroyed the Bogan Destroyer, Eriana had lost her temper. To a degree, she was ashamed of herself at the amount of screaming she did over a fleet wide broadcast, but the knowledge that she did not harm anyone kept her focused on keeping her cool. With her reputation among the Black Vornskrs, and her tone of voice, nobody dared hesitate in executing her orders to have General Cooper shackled and dragged to her. She also ordered Pulastra and Stragoron to do the dragging if they didn't want the same to be done to them. While everyone had been scared when she had been screaming orders across the open channel, they were terrified of what her silence meant now.

Needless to say, none of the Black Vornskr pirate crew were willing to cross her if she was on the verge of executing one of her generals.

"Fleet wide damage report," one particularly brave technician approached her and held out a datapad. She slowly turned to look at him, the angry eyes of the Bha'lir sculpted into her helmet bringing some level of terror to his heart. She could sense his heart beat quicken, pounding away in his chest like a drum.

"Thank you," Eriana said softly and held out a gloved hand. He placed the datapad on top of her fingers, but she did not grab it. "Why are you afraid of me?"

The pirate swallowed hard and looked at the helmet as if unsure if she had spoken. After several tense seconds he finally spoke.

"The fleet failed you, ma'am," he said bravely. "We shouldn't have let you down."

"No, the fleet did well." Eriana finally took the datapad and glanced at the top line. She pointed out toward the Bogan Destroyer. "Look at that, Technician Marcus. This is the first victory _anyone_ has claimed against one of those ships, and we did it with less than ten percent of our ships claiming operational damage. What were our total losses?"

"We lost thirty fighters and the _Orothos_ is having problems with their shield emitters, ma'am," Marcus said. "All of the pilots have been recovered."

"Exactly," Eriana said. "We won a battle against a ship that has taken out fleets twice the size of ours, and we did it without any significant losses. The Black Vornskrs have proven themselves a force to be reckoned with."

"Then why are you angry?" A familiar voice came from behind Eriana.

"Because _they're_ _not supposed to_ _know_ _we're a force to be reckoned with_!" she snapped and turned around. Marcus retreated to his station as Eriana crossed the bridge of the Star Destroyer, meeting Stragoron and Pulastra half way from the door. Restrained by the other two generals was Cooper, a large purple bruise developing over his left eye and shackles restraining his wrists and ankles together. "Explain your actions, Don. Last chance before I have you thrown out an airlock."

Don Cooper rose to his feet and looked at Eriana, trying to impress her with his height, but failing utterly. The fact that Stragoron and Pulastra, two large muscular humans, looked terrified of her did not help his attempt.

"Here, in front of everyone?"

"Yes."

"Fine," Cooper said. "Your plan to capture that ship was a fool's errand. We don't have the manpower to capture a ship full of Bogan warriors, and we've been too long without a decisive victory. We've been skulking around in the shadows running away from them as they hunt us down. This was our first chance to strike back and show them who we are, and we had to take it. If we didn't destroy that ship, we'd only prove to them that we're not half the pirate fleet you want to pretend we are."

Eriana lashed out and back-fisted the offending general across the face, splitting his lip open with the sharp edge of her cortosis armoured glove.

"_My_ plan was to disable the ship, bleed the air into space, and break in with a specialized team to extract information from the data core which could lead to _destroying the entire Bogan Empire!_ I'd bloody well _love_ to know how we're going to do _that_ with the ship floating in two halves and a destroyed power core!" Eriana snapped. "After that was done, _then_ we could salvage anything of importance so we could actually _pay_ our people for their hard work, drag the ship to Coruscant, and blow the hell out of it right in front of their senate to send a _real_ message. Now all I have is a big wreck of a ship around some backwater planet that does us damn near _nothing_. _Maybe_ we'll find something useful; _maybe_ it's just a load of twisted scrap that we can use for target practice."

"We're not going to win this war by playing it safe, Eriana."

"You want to take a gamble?" Eriana paced away from him. "I'm going to make a wager with you, General Cooper. If my crews are able to salvage the information I need, you get to live and fight another day. If they don't, _you_ don't. Someone throw him in an airlock. He'll wait there until I find what I'm looking for."


	18. Bread Crumbs

Sioux - Agreed that she played it too close to her chest. From her point of view she let the most important person in her life get captured, and she's trying to keep her emotions under control by being a bit of a control freak with everything else. While she's still performing in a very calculated and driven way that is having success for the Vornskrs, underneath she's not handling the situation well. She lost her temper, she miscalculated a key element in the battle, and she doesn't entirely see that it is her fault for that. But she's still the big boss when it comes down to it. Regardless of what anyone else might say, **she is right.** Or at least needs to maintain that she is. On the flip side...Cooper's fleet was firing lasers, not torpedoes. There was no reason why they should've continued firing when told not to.

Onimi, thanks for the correction. I've put that in. As for Luke and Mara post-Thrawn, I would say that is one of those 'liquid courage' driven mistakes that left them both a bit embarrassed for a while. On top of that, I could see "Emperor's Hand" Mara being scared of getting too close to Luke, perhaps that she did feel something for him at the time.

* * *

>Chapter 16 – Bread Crumbs<p>Lowie's four day journey finally brought him back to the super dense cluster of black holes near Kessel that made up The Maw which protected the two bases of the Black Vornskrs. He docked with the outer base, traded his transport for an old T-65 X-wing that had been modified with enhanced inertial compensators he had designed to better withstand the gravitational sheering effect of the gauntlet tunnel to the primary base, and set off as soon as he could. Once he arrived at the main base he docked the X-wing upside down relative to the asteroid and hoisted himself into the docking tunnel, easily flipping himself around with his Force-enhanced Wookiee agility. He reached up and removed the seat from the X-wing and used the Force to open a panel that opened up into the storage area on the bottom of the snubfighter. He extracted a small satchel that held almost all of his few belongings and slung it around his right shoulder.<p>

As Lowie worked he ran through the responsibilities and duties he had to address now that he had arrived at the Black Vornskr base. Trusted on Jacen's recommendation, Eriana had put Lowie as her third in command should she and Jacen be compromised or indisposed. His thoughts ran through the need to assess fleet deployments and missions, intelligence operatives, and figure out some sort of way to expand the covert diplomatic influence of the Vornskrs to forge new channels of resistance and covert distribution of personnel and material.

The base was not overly big and was only occupied by about sixty of Eriana's most trusted members, plus the Hapan royal family, so he was not surprised to see nobody as he travelled the bleak white corridors. He debated whether he should retreat to his quarters, one of the only three private rooms on the base, but after seeing that the local time was in the middle of the base's night cycle he decided to proceed directly to the central command centre and get an early start on the looming workload ahead of him.

As he approached the command centre, something felt out of place in the Force. Everyone working in the centre seemed far too focused, far too alert and far too busy for a night shift on duty while the boss was away. He pushed open the door and found all the technicians sitting in the outer rim of the circular room intently working at their terminals on their own or in small groups quietly discussing their projects. The inner ring of technicians all seemed to be coordinating their efforts, chatting freely across the room with requests or responses for information. All in all, one third of the staff on the base filled the room, but the most startling thing of all was right at the centre of the room.

The woman standing in front of the central display was using one hand to interact with a map of the galaxy that was overlaid with various reports, and she was issuing orders to the first ring of technicians amid their constant chatter. With the other arm, she was holding a sleeping baby.

"Greetings, friend Lowbacca," Tenel Ka said when she sensed his presence. She looked over her shoulder and had an uncharacteristic twinkle in her eye when she smiled ever so slightly. "Welcome to the rebellion."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Despite the tense atmosphere aboard the _Jade Shadow_, Mara was glad that some progress toward finding Jacen was being made. She and Ami seemed to have come to an unspoken agreement to use Ben as an intermediary between them, and to avoid being in the same room as each other. While Ami and Ben worked in the cockpit on modifying the sensor system with the communication system to tap into _Fang_'s surveillance system, Mara spent most of her time in her quarters watching their progress from a hidden security camera feed.

"_Try networking it this way_," Ami pointed to something on the screen in front of Ben. "_That'll allow you to tie in the decryption matrix from the comm system into the sensor grid."_

"_But can't we use the main computer for that? It has ten times the processing power."_

_Nope, _Mara thought to herself. _The communication system does it faster._

"_You could_," Ami said and crossed over to the other side of the bridge to the communication suite, "_But the comm system is designed to process encryption prototcols in real time. Even though the hardware is slower, the main computer will never be able to keep up with a system designed specifically for that purpose. While you're doing that I'll set up the decryption protocol from the disk. If it works, and if we tied the holonet receiver into the array properly, we should be able to find any communications in the entire network on that encryption protocol and nobody will be the wiser."_

_Karrde taught her well,_ Mara said with a grim smile as she sat back and crossed her arms across her chest. She realized now that keeping Ami from the family was a mistake. She had thought that Ami's anger toward her would translate to Ben and Luke, and she wanted to protect them from that. But, thankfully Ami seemed to be smarter than that.

"_Try it now_," Ben suggested.

"_That's it_," Ami said.

A transmission immediately came across the speakers in the cockpit, but Mara could not make out the words through the hidden intercom. After a minute it ended.

"_Well, that was better than I expected_," Ami said with a smile.

Mara grabbed her lightsaber from her bed and clipped it to her belt on her way out of the room. She jogged along the empty corridors until she came to the door to the bridge. She stopped for a second, took a deep breath, then opened the door and walked in. She walked right past Ben and Ami, who were on either side of the bridge, and took her position in the pilot's seat.

"What's our destination?" Mara asked, activating the navicomputer and powering up the engines in one fluid half turn in her swivel chair as she slid to face forward.

"What makes you think...?"

"I'm a Jedi," Mara interrupted Ami. "I know when people's emotions change."

"Umbara," Ben said, giving Ami a warning look. He knew what it meant when his mom went into Captain Mom mode, and it was not a mode to trifle with. "Krayt just summoned Jacen to Umbara."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

She watched him for a minute, wondering what exactly was going through his head. She knew what was going through her head, what the end result would be from their interaction, but she did not know exactly how it would play out. She tapped on the transparisteel with the knuckle of her middle finger, startling Don Cooper. He jumped to his feet and approached the airlock exit. She noted that his eyes appeared red as if he had been crying, but she doubted that was the case. Still wearing her helmet so he could not see her expressions, she jabbed her gloved finger against the intercom button.

"For a second I thought you were serious about being upset," Cooper said. "What's with the act?"

"Act?" Eriana asked. _He thinks this is a show?_

"You blew one of the most important, delicate operations we've done. I _did_ want to capture that ship. I _need_ information from the Bogans on their fleet movements to find out where Jacen is. What the hell did you think we were doing? All the planning and preparations, refitting ships and using gravity well projectors over _this_ worthless planet? Are you really that stupid?"

"I..." Cooper looked away from her. She could hardly believe how surprised he looked. "I guess I am."

"Yeah, you are," Eriana reinforced with a mocking tone. "I was serious about the gamble. Care to guess how the search for information turned out?"

Cooper stared at the emotionless face of her helmet for a moment before looking away.

"I...I'm surprised you came down here to do it yourself," Cooper said. "I guess if I'm going out an airlock for the right reasons, it may as well be a Jedi doing it."

"I'm not a Jedi, Don," Eriana said, her finger hovering over the release button for the airlock hatch. "I never was."

She pressed the button, opening the airlock.

"Krayt's flagship is going to Umbara," Eriana said. "You're damn lucky we were able to pull that out of the damaged data core."

Cooper stepped out of the airlock in tentative disbelief, looking at Eriana as if he was sure she would still find a reason to kill him. The moment he started to relax, Eriana's lightsaber flipped off her left hip, slapped into her right palm, and the yellow blade snap-hissed into existence beside his neck.

"I need a General who is actually going to listen to my orders and realize that I'm deadly serious when I tell him to stop fraking firing on a target when I tell him to," Eriana continued. "Do you want this last chance to prove you can be that General?"

"Yes," Cooper said, swallowing hard. "I'd be honoured to serve you again."

"Then prep the fleet for battle, General Cooper," Eriana said, deactivating her lightsaber. She took a step forward and pressed the emitter to his chest, staring up at him through the menacing Bha'lir modelled helmet. "I may have given you a lot of leeway in the past, but right now you're on a _very_ short leash. I'll be overseeing your fleet personally. Understood?"

"Understood, Overlord."

"Get my fleet ready," Eriana said, pushing him away from her with the end of her lightsaber hilt. "And don't even think of betraying me again."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"Admiral on the bridge!"

It took Jaina about five seconds to realize that the announcement of a present admiral was a reaction to her entrance onto the bridge of her new command ship, an ancient _Harrower_ class dreadnought that looked more heavily modified than even the _Millennium Falcon_. On her flyby, Jaina had noticed that over the extremely long life of the 950 metre long ship, the armour plates had been entirely replaced, the engines had been upgraded with different models at different times, and all of the weapon emplacements had been converted to double turbolaser canons. On her final approach into the main hanger bay between the two prongs that split down the middle of the ship, Jaina noticed that the shield emitters had been replaced with some planetary shield generators, a modification that seemed contrary to Wedge's initial assessments of the fleet refits.

As she strode up to the front viewport with Erinn in tow, she noted that the bridge extended nearly fifty metres in either direction and beings on either side were standing at attention, awaiting her command.

"As you were," Jaina said, standing at the viewport. Anxiety crept into her heart forcing her to use a Jedi calming technique to settle herself down. She was certain she was looking like an aloof and arrogant new admiral, ignoring the crew and staring out the viewport, but inside she felt like a scared little girl trying to enter her bedroom without the lights on.

"Admiral?"

"Yes?" Jaina asked, turning around to face a man so old she almost giggled when the thought entered her mind that he might have been the original captain of the ship when it was launched three thousand years ago. To her surprise, the man wore an old Palpatine-era Imperial Captain uniform, complete with the grey cap and old style rank bars. "Captain Gerimiah Pearl, correct?"

"At your service, Admiral Solo," Captain Pearl replied in a gravely Coruscanti accent.

"This is my administrative aide, Erinn," Jaina gestured to her apprentice.

"A pleasure," Pearl shook Erinn's hand. "Welcome to the _Ol'Faithful._ You won't find a finer ship in the fleet."

"She looks like she's been around a long time," Jaina commented. "I don't think I've even seen a _Harrower_ in person before."

"Last one flying," Pearl said proudly, his bushy grey moustache lifting at the corners with his smile. "Admiral Pellaeon had her refit just before the war with the Mandalorians broke out. She's quite a treat to command."

"I noticed the shield emitters were replaced with planetary shielding when I was flying in," Jaina said, getting another smile from the old captain as they turned and walked towards one of the consoles on the left side of the bridge.

"She's so old she's wired for alternating current," Pearl said. "We upgraded the output with some new fission generators and the only upgraded shield generators that were compatible came right off Bastion's defense network. She'll take a beating, and she'll give one, too."

"If Wedge has things his way, we won't see much action," Jaina said. At the console Jaina turned her attention to being introduced to her chiefs of staff. Vryy'roo, who was charged with overseeing the repairs on the damaged ships, was the shortest Wookiee Jaina had ever met. Jaina grunted a few Wookiee greetings that Lowie had taught her to Vryy'roo's amusement, and was complimented on her control of the Wookiee language. At that point Jaina laughed and admitted that was all she knew, which everyone got a chuckle from, except for a tall Togruta woman. Her name was Emriss Kol, and she did not look happy about Jaina's appointment. She introduced herself as the commander of the fighter group which would ensure the safety of the fleet. Finally, Jaina was introduced to the executive officer of _Ol'Faithful_, Aton Hyn, another former Imperial who looked to be too anxious to sit around and meet someone new.

"Something bothering you, Aton?" Jaina asked, picking up on his impatience.

Aton turned to Vryy'roo and passed him one of the four data pads he had been carrying, effectively ignoring Jaina.

"Vryy, here are the reports on the availability of parts you're looking for for the _Aggressor_, the _Entrapment_, and the _Emerald Viper_," Aton said. "I've included dates that the manufacturing team can produce the parts, and we've had to prioritize based on critical systems. I'm sorry I can't do much better."

Vryy took the pad from Aton and shook his head, growling something about needing four shipyards and only having a hammer.

"Would you mind elaborating, Vryy?" Jaina asked, somewhat oblivious to the problems the fleet was facing.

"You can go ahead," Pearl dismissed the team and led Jaina back to the main viewport. "We've been tasked with fixing up the damaged ships of the fleet, but the only part manufacturing facilities are on this ship. All of the shipyards are under Admiral Antilles's orders to complete the refits of the superlasers and the shield generators, leaving us with doing everything the old fashioned way."

Jaina nodded and looked out of the viewport beyond the pronged front of the ship and at the ships floating in space around her new command ship.

"Can you get me a report on the status of every ship we have, as well as profiles on all of the captains and command crews?" Jaina asked. "I want to know what we're up against."

"I'll have them in two hours," Pearl said sharply. "I'll say, Admiral, I'm relieved you're here. Until now, I had your job, and I don't envy you one bit."

As Pearl walked away to prepare his report, Jaina got the sinking suspicion that her job might be a lot harder than she initially thought.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"You seem startled, my friend," Tenel Ka noted as she settled into the comfortable chair behind Eriana's desk. Lowie took the seat on the other side of the desk, noting that everything had been rearranged or replaced since the last time he had been in the office. "I suppose there have been some changes you were not aware of."

[Let's start with your arm,] Lowie barked, gesturing to her left arm that still cradled her son, Anakin.

Tenel Ka gave him a grim smile and looked to Anakin, remaining silent. Despite her composed face, Lowie could sense her emotional conflict.

"I always thought that my disability should not impact my life," Tenel Ka finally said softly, turning her cool grey eyes back to her friend. "But recent events have made me reconsider what is best for the safety of my family. Doctor Elsa, the base physician, has experimented with a technique to attach lost limbs from cloned replacements. It is odd to have the arm back, but useful."

Lowie chuffed with a short laugh. Only Tenel Ka would refer to a replaced arm as "useful."

"As for the rebellion," Tenel Ka continued. "I found myself restless doing nothing. Beyond the small gym, there is very little to do here. On one day I wandered into the control room and began reading reports on various instances of government corruption. I thought it was prudent to suggest some courses of action for our undercover Jedi. It began as a small game, trying to find small ways to undermine the Bogan regime. It did not take long for everyone on the base to become involved. We began suggesting targets for Wedge's fleets to raid and offering political recommendations to several diplomats and Jedi. Some Jedi are doing sabotage and espionage missions as well. All of this is to undermine Darth Krayt. The Black Vornskr fleets have been on manoeuvres with Eriana for the last week, so we have yet to coordinate with them. I hope we can soon use Talon Karrde's organization to aid us in intelligence."

[You started the rebellion out of boredom,] Lowie growled thoughtfully.

"Eriana started the rebellion," Tenel Ka corrected him, adjusting Anakin in her arms as he squirmed in his sleep for a few seconds. "I am merely organizing it."

Lowie grunted thoughtfully and stared out the window for a second.

"Friend Lowbacca?"

[Yes?]

"Could you assist me by leading the team for a short while?" Tenel Ka asked, cocking her head to the side to indicate the door behind her. "It is time to feed Anakin."

Lowie's eyes went wide and he nodded, almost jumping out of his chair. He barked his reassurance and retreated to the command section, happy to know that his friend was finally on the road to recovery.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Most spies and commandos would agree that if there was one overlying theme governing the theories of infiltration itwould involve some measure of stealth. At the very least, one might even say they should infiltrate "real quiet-like." However, some might take a more unorthodox approach. And a dying Han Solo wearing nearly indestructible Mandalorian armour with nothing to lose had very little reason to not regard the established rules and theories of infiltration methodologies in favour for the unorthodox.

"Grenade!" Han shouted with glee as he chucked a small sphere down the length of hallway at the Bogan soldier, still firing randomly at the enemies with a blaster rifle in his left hand. He picked up a second blaster rifle from a fallen enemy in his free hand and let another flurry of blaster bolts loose as the thermal detonator exploded, incinerating a sizeable hole through the walls, floor and ceiling where the sphere had landed. Han and Fett rushed toward the smoking crater and jumped through to the next level, sprinting as best they could in their physical condition down the halls.

"Is this how you normally operate?" Fett asked incredulously.

"Usually ends up this way," Han panted, firing wildly at random targets as they ran. "Chewie and me did this all the time."

A blast door ahead of them began to close and Fett activated his jet pack, blasting through the diminishing hole between the four angular doors. Han did likewise, scraping his shoulder and arm armour as he barely made it through the gap.

"It is…exhilarating!" Fett said, blasting several more troopers as they ran along. One barely got a shot off in Fett's direction that narrowly missed Han's helmet as they continued to run along before he was mowed down by the old Mandalorian clone.

"Makes you feel twenty years younger!" Han said. He skidded to a halt and punched an armoured finger against one of the display panels. "Proton torpedo storage is two floors below."

"Sensors showing more troops approaching from both sides," Fett said, assessing his display. "Weapon energy signatures look like some lightsabers."

"I was wondering when they would show up," Han said and yanked another thermal detinator from his belt. He activated it and chucked it down the hallway, counting to three and watching the explosion create a ten metre sphere of empty space through the floor. He and Fett approached the hole and looked through it to see another hole in the deck plating the next floor down, directly into a large dark cavern.

Han flicked his tongue against one of the switches inside the helmet and watched the HUD populate with sensor data, images overlaying shapes he could barely see. While a lot of Mandalorians loved the HUD sensor data, Han felt his own eyes made a better targeting system by far and rarely used them.

"That's the torpedo storage," Fett said, referring to the similar sensor data he was seeing on his own HUD. He reached over and grabbed one of the three explosive devices clipped to Han's back, noted the time remaining on it, and activated the magnetic clamp for a three second delay. He dropped it through the hole and the unlikely pair watched the explosive device disappear into the dark storage bay.

"Next one?" Han asked.

"And as many as we can," Fett said. Despite the raspy voice, Han could definitely hear a smile behind the Mandalorian's words. He knew they were both thinking the same thing – it felt good to feel alive.


	19. Trails' End

JDR - Welcome back! And thanks :) Fett is meant to be out of character...I believe that the Fett we see in "bounty hunter mode" isn't necessarily the same Fett who is out of bounty hunter mode. I did mention in my notes that I met Jeremy Bulloch and I decided to base the non-bounty hunter on my experience meeting him. Really nice guy. I also figure that since he's facing his mortality, he's likely going to be looking at past regrets (ie, not having a real family etc) and that can make people a bit more melancholic. Tenel Ka definitely has a future in my writing...more to come sooner or later :)

* * *

><p>Chapter 17 – Trails' End<p>

Krayt's complex on Umbara was an enormous villa overlooking the South Sea. A perpetually dark planet, little sunlight reached the surface of Umbara which resulted in an odd humanoid evolution among the Umbarans to be able to see into the ultraviolet spectrum. Deep within the Ghost Nebula, Umbara was opposed to visitors since the Clone Wars when the Republic invaded the planet. Unfortunately for them, like with so many other planets that had lost their independence, Lord Krayt's will was difficult to ignore.

He assumed control over the villa, liberating it from some senator who was more than willing to exchange it for his continued ability to breathe, and turned it into a private residence to escape to when he needed space, but also maintained an operations centre on the premises. He also, on rare occasions, invited members of his inner circle for discussion, training and ceremonies.

After his guests landed their ship on the small private landing pad several hundred metres north of the building, Zara escorted Jacen to the largest room in the villa. On the way there Jacen noted that virtually the entire building that he saw was undecorated, using only the beautiful wooden panelling to bring character to the hallways and rooms that he passed. Glowpanels had been added to the ceilings, casting just enough light in the hallways to let humans that were not gifted with the ability to see ultraviolet find their way through the building, but not enough that would harm the vision of any Umbarans who may enter the residence.

When they finally arrived at their destination, Krayt waited for them in meditation sitting on the ground with his back to them. Aside from Krayt himself, the room was empty save the various weapons, both ceremonial and functional, that lined the beautiful light brown wooden walls. The floor, in contrast, was made of a highly polished hardwood that, despite the lustre, looked to have been scratched and scuffed and repaired many times in its lifetime.

"Welcome back," Krayt's deep voice rumbled through the large room. "What have you learned about the Black Sun?"

"My Lord," Zara said. "We know who their leader is and how they rose to power."

"Excellent." Krayt stood up and turned around to face his operatives. "Who is it?"

Zara looked to Jacen and nodded, acknowledging that he should tell Lord Krayt their findings.

"Synergy Technology," Jacen said. "The CEO is using all those high-tech LinkCom gadgets that everyone is crazy about to spy on them. Electronic messages, calls, holonet browsing. They're even able to access pictures and videos stored on the devices remotely, _and_ they can track people's movements on any holonet-connected planet using the navigation services. It's a perfect spy network – people spying on themselves without even realizing it."

"And they use this information for blackmail to further their interests," Krayt finished. "Ingenious."

"Yeah," Jacen said. "They're also stealing government and military secrets. So, I fulfilled my part of the bargain. I'm ready to go home now."

"You seem very assured of yourself, Solo," Krayt commented. "Our deal was for you to _eliminate_ the Black Sun. You still have work to do."

"And you're hoping that if I go on a rampage through the Corporate Sector it would whet my appetite for the ways of the Sith," Jacen said. "Don't worry. I'll find my own way of dealing with them using my own resources."

"You are still at a disadvantage," Krayt said. "You're in my facility, and quite outnumbered."

"And you still want something from me," Jacen retorted. "Let's drop our cards right here and now. Are you willing to give me my freedom if I give you what you want?"

Jacen could feel the fear radiating off Zara as she watched the exchange between Jedi and Sith. Even though they had discussed Krayt's condition, openly questioning the aptitude of a Sith Lord was not often what one would expect to do if they wanted to live a long life.

"You have _nothing_ I..."

"Liar," Jacen interrupted lazily.

"How dare..."

"You lied," Jacen said reasonably. "Therefore, I dare. Spit it out. Tell me what you want."

Krayt's heterochromatic eyes narrowed.

"Leave us, Zara."

"I told her."

Krayt shot a glare at Zara, sending a shiver down her spine, but turned his attention back to Jacen.

"You already knew?"

"Yeah," Jacen said. "I know exactly what's wrong with you. And we both know I'm the only person in the galaxy who can fix it. So what will it be, Krayt? Will you deal with a Jedi for help, or keep your pride and let your armour devour you?"

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

With the _Jade Shadow_ tucked in a small valley north of the Krayt estate, Mara left Ami and Ben behind with very strict instructions to keep their presences as small as possible, keep an eye on the ship's passive sensors, and get the hell out of there if anyone found them. To Ami's displeasure, she hugged both of her children as if it might be the last time and whispered an apology to Ami, for all the good it would do.

With that behind her, she set off into the perpetual night of Umbara. One of the few Imperial planets she had never visited in her career as the Emperor's Hand, Mara found a slight fascination with the planet's terrain and ecology. Thanks to the Ghost Nebula, the surface of Umbara was almost completely dark even on the side facing the sun. It only became slightly less dark during the day, which allowed her barely enough light to see large objects that she might walk into. A waist high layer of fog seemed to cover everything in sight, making it necessary to use the Force to judge her footing.

Using the Force to guide her, she traversed the terrain easily, closing the three kilometre distance from the _Jade Shadow_ to Krayt's compound in under ten minutes. As she approached it she sprinted up to the metre-high stone fence and crouched behind it, looking over it to assess the property in the dim light. She could make out a few small ships, including one that looked to be the same size and shape of the _Fang_, the ship that Ami had described as Jacen's. To her surprise, there seemed to be very little in terms of security patrols.

Mara vaulted herself over the wall and ran up to the _Fang, _sneaking up the boarding ramp silently and into the main passenger area which was separated from the cockpit by a half wall. Inside the cockpit, someone was accessing the navicomputer with her back toward Mara. Mara pulled two vibroknives from her leg sheaths and crept toward the person in the cockpit. Despite Mara's perfectly stealthy approach, the second she stepped into the cockpit the other person spun around and pointed the business end of a lightsaber hilt at her chest.

"Mara Jade. I thought you were supposed to be a lot better at this stuff."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Despite a seemingly vast collection of highly skilled individuals to choose from, Eriana knew there was only one team among the Black Vornskrs that would be willing and able to pull off the high risk attempt to liberate Jacen from the clutches of Darth Krayt. What she did not know was how frakin' crazy they were.

"Lanos, please don't kill us!" Eriana shouted over the rumbling of ship as it descended into the atmosphere of Umbara. "This is _not_ what I call an infiltration mission!"

Lanos merely laughed at his boss's show of weakness. As a Mandalorian commander leading a crew of crack Mandalorian commandos consisting of his son Parmis, a munitions expert named Trigger, a weapons expert named Blade, and a resident computer hacker named Squeak, Lanos well knew his team and ship's limitations.

"We need to look like a meteorite," Lanos said. "An uncontrolled entry will get us past their scans."

"And get us killed!" Eriana shouted back and pointed to one of the displays. "Shields are at thirty percent!"

"We'll be through in two seconds," Parmis reported from the pilot's station of the _Squawking Mynock_. "One...two."

The shaking of the ship from the friction of Umbara's mesosphere stopped and Eriana exhaled a breath of relief. She hardly noticed that she had been squeezing the crash webbing on her seat until she felt the pain of it digging into her hands. She forced herself to relax her grip and looked back out the main viewport.

"Please tell me that isn't the _ground_ that we're rushing towards!"

"Relax and enjoy," Lanos interrupted. "We can't break until we're one kilometre away."

Eriana watched with wide eyes as the distance counter on the display in front of her ticked away, kilometres disappearing by the dozen each second. If there was _one_ fear Eriana had above all else, it was being completely out of control of circumstances while her life was in danger. After about three seconds Parmis launched a barrage of proton torpedoes and flipped the ship over in a gut-wrenching spin, fired the engines to full, and somehow the explosion of the torpedoes combined with the extreme deceleration of the ship did not kill them. Eriana looked back at the display and saw that they were hovering about three metres above the surface with the cloaking device activated.

"What were those coordinates again?" Parmis asked as he calmly brought up a map of the planet on the HUD.

Eriana used a shaking hand to pull a sheet of flimsy out from behind her armour breastplate. She rattled off the coordinates extracted from the _Obsidian_ class destroyer that had been reduced to scrap around Shumogi and somehow returned the flimsy back to the pocket.

"We'll make a Mandalorian out of you yet," Lanos complimented Eriana. "You held onto your lunch quite well."

"You're lucky I can use the Force," Eriana retorted, using it to calm her nerves. "Otherwise you'd be _wearing_ my lunch."

"We're coming up on Krayt's compound," Parmis said, pointing to a small complex that seemed to be one of the few things dimly glowing on the horizon.

"Can you risk a fly-by?"

"With the cloak, nobody will see us, especially on this planet," Lanos replied.

"I'll jump out the boarding ramp," Eriana said and worked her way out of the crash webbing. "You guys find a safe place to hide. It shouldn't be too difficult on this planet. Wait for my signal before you come in."

Without waiting for an argument, Eriana retreated to the back of the _Squawking Mynock_ and found Squeak suited up in his Mandalorian armour, sans helmet, waiting for her at the boarding ramp. She noticed that he looked pastier than she had remembered.

"You okay?"

Squeak looked at her as if she had four heads. "Ask me that when I haven't been put through..._that_."

"I didn't do much better," Eriana admitted. She helped Squeak strap himself against the wall beside the control panel for the boarding ramp and strapped a stealth repulsor pack onto her back. Squeak deactivated the lights and she grabbed onto one of the available handles as he opened the ramp. A strong gust of wind threatened to pull her out, but she used the Force to maintain her grip on the ship. She put her helmet on and cued the communicator.

"Tell me when to jump," Eriana said to Parmis.

Ten seconds later Eriana found herself plummeting toward the surface of Umbara for the second time, but this time she felt in control. After a few moments of enjoying the free fall, she activated the repulsor pack and floated softly to the ground, just north-east of the villa that Krayt had taken over. She discarded the repulsor and softly sprinted through the layer of mist covering the ground, leapt over the short wall protecting the compound, and landed crouched behind the boarding ramp of a small ship that had been landed so recently that the engines were still ticking as they cooled. She pulled her lightsabers from her leg holsters and entered the ship, quickly confirming that nobody else was in it. She proceeded to the cockpit where she sat down at the navicomputer. She took her helmet off, and using a data card that she had Squeak prepare before the mission, she was able to slice into the navicomputer and steal all of the data, plus install a tracking routine that would send out a sub-space pulse every time the ship dropped out of hyperspace which could be detected by the Black Vornskr communication network. As she worked on the computer she heard a slight noise behind her and glanced at the semi-reflective front viewport out of the corner of her eye. She recognized the red hair before anything else and smiled to herself. She casually reached up and activated the microphone in her ear knowing that it would automatically transmit back to the _Mynock_. Counting to five, she finally turned around with a lightsaber hilt at the ready, more for show than anything.

"Mara Jade. I thought you were supposed to be a lot better at this stuff."

"Eriana," Mara said in surprise. The vibroknives in her hands disappeared back into their sheaths on her legs, guided by the Force. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"Nor I, you," Eriana admitted. "But it'll make things a lot easier. Is your ship nearby?"

"North of here in a valley," Mara said. "Data extraction?"

A soft chime came from the navicomputer and Eriana extracted her data card. She placed it into her pocket, picked up her helmet, and retreated to the back of the ship with Mara in tow.

"That and a homing signal," Eriana said. "If we can't extract him, we'll still be able to track him."

"Don't worry," Mara said dangerously. "He's coming with us."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

A seemingly simple decision to visit her daughter turned into a four hour hunt through the Fifth Fleet for Leia. She had been bounced between eight different starships in various stages of repair, the last of which finally acknowledged that Jaina was on board. Communication and coordination between the fleet seemed disorganized at best to Leia's trained eye, but she could not tell if it was due to the disarray that the fleet hardware was in, or if it was the leadership team.

Leia finally docked her shuttle with the old Nebulon-B frigate and was not greeted by anyone to open the airlock door for her. She entered the ship and wandered through it on her own, making her way to the bridge on memory from the layout of the medical ship that Luke had received his prosthetic hand half a lifetime ago. Mechanics and technicians passed by her, so engrossed in their discussions of their assigned repairs that she wondered if they even noticed her or anyone else around them.

Upon entering the bridge, Leia noticed that there were many people working to repair damage that looked like everything had been on fire or shorted out by an ion cannon blast fired at close range. Looking around she recognized a familiar pair of boots sticking out from under the central command console and she approached it.

"Can someone hand me a number two hydrospanner?" Jaina's muffled voice came out from under the console. Her hand appeared a second later, waving for the requested tool and Leia's mind went back twenty years to when Jaina was tinkering on whatever device she could get her hands on. With a smile, Leia used the Force to pass the tool along the floor from the tool box to her daughter's hand. "Oh! Hi, Mom. Give me a minute."

Leia waited patiently for Jaina to finish up her repair and wiggle her way out from under the console. To her surprise, Jaina was actually smiling as she scrambled to her feet.

"Hi Mom, give me a minute," Jaina said and she turned to the console and pressed the activation button. The display gave a short whine before flickering to light, and Jaina looked to a technician that Leia hadn't noticed on the other side of the console with a satisfied grin. "And _that's_ how you replace a holo emitter without frying your eyebrows off."

Leia looked back to the technician and repressed the urge to snicker – the technician did appear to have lost the majority of his light brown eyebrows in a recent small fire. He replied with a small "Yes, Admiral," and disappeared to perform his duties elsewhere.

"I take it your first command is going well," Leia said now that she had her daughter's attention.

"Yeah, I can do just about whatever I want," Jaina admitted as she began collecting her tools. "They were having a problem installing the holo emitters so I thought I'd come and give them a hand. Next I have a sublight engine to overhaul, followed by a recalibration of the lateral sensor grid, and I need to check up on the team replacing the port torpedo launchers."

"Jaina, you're supposed to be leading the fleet, not doing repairs yourself," Leia said. "As admiral it is your responsibility to make sure everything is on track."

"I _am_ doing that," Jaina said. "The fleet is overworked and underequipped. I asked Wedge for one shipyard but he's too busy putting parts together for Danni's stupid project. We've got one three-thousand year old ship that can manufacture parts at a Hutt's pace, and a fleet that's falling apart around us. Wedge isn't giving us the tools that we need, so I need everyone out here, including me, jury-rigging these ships back together."

Jaina hefted her toolbox and pushed past her mom out of the bridge, but Leia quickly caught up to her.

"Who is overseeing the work crews?" Leia asked.

"Erinn is keeping me informed of things, but I've got a Wookiee named Vryy doing the scheduling, and the _Ol'Faithful_'s XO is running the parts manufacturing schedule," Jaina said without stopping. "There's no real admiraling to do. I spent an hour looking at ship reports and command crew profiles and they all told me one thing: we need more people fixing the ships and less people telling us how to. The fleet is in no shape to run drills, and half the ships have their engines cores or drives pulled for repairs. We're sitting ducks and we all know it."

"You're avoiding something," Leia said in a matter of fact tone.

Jaina rolled her eyes and finally turned to face her mom.

"I'm not _avoiding_ her," Jaina said through clenched teeth. "I'm making a...strategic disengagement."

"You can't do that with your own personnel," Leia insisted, but Jaina shook her head and continued down the long hallway separating the front and back of the ship. Leia almost had to jog to keep up with her daughter's brisk pace.

"You'll have to face her eventually," Leia reminded her. "And I do have some experience with politics."

"Emriss is just jealous that I got the job," Jaina said. "And she thinks she knows how to run a fighter wing better than I do."

"Does she?"

"That's not the point!" Jaina exclaimed and turned around again, dropping her tool chest to the ground. She startled a group of passing mechanics that were carrying a sensor array between the four of them that sped up to get away from the angry Admiral, but Jaina hardly noticed them. "_I'm_ the one calling the shots..."

"For the fleet," Leia interrupted Jaina's rant. "_Not_ the fighter group. You need to give Emriss the chance to run things her way."

"The fighter group _is_ part of the fleet," Jaina insisted. "She's operating a three-shift rotation. Eight hours a day. I want to push it down to a six hour rotation so the pilots stay fresh and don't pass out in the cockpit. It'll also give us a chance to create openings to train more fighter pilots and fill gaps in the fleet. I want to go to Wedge to show him that the Fifth fleet can be more than just a repair fleet - we can also do training."

"Then _suggest_ it to her as an equal," Leia advised. "Don't demand it as a superior. She has as much authority over her people as you do over yours, but you need to look at her as a member of a team, not a cadet to order around. The more you make people feel like they are working _with_ you, the they'll be willing to work _for_ you."

Jaina picked up her tool box and continued her march down the long hallway. "You know, I _was_ having a good day until you showed up. I actually felt like I was accomplishing something. It's bad enough that Wedge won't give me what I need to fix his ships..."

"_Admiral Antillies_ is looking at a much bigger picture than you are," Leia reminded her. "With the rebellion starting, we have had to consider every strategic opportunity of using every available asset in this fleet. And you'll do well to remember that he could have thrown you in the brig for what you did. You owe him."

"Are you _threatening_ me?" Jaina turned around again just as they reached the end of the hallway. "Do you even have any authority to be on this ship? I think you're not wearing proper safety gear to be on a work site and should probably leave."

Leia took a step closer to Jaina and gave her a penetrating glare that she reserved for only her shrewdest political rivals. Jaina held her glare, but Leia could sense cracks in her daughter's resolve.

"You're walking a fine line, Jaina," Leia reminded her. "I know what you were doing when Karrde's people picked you up on Iope. I know what happened with Danni. And I know all about the antics you've been pulling for the last few weeks. Maybe you should stop pushing people around and start looking at ways people can help you before you lose more than just your command, _Admiral_ _Solo_."

Leia turned on her heel and walked away.

"Worry more about your welcome on my fleet," Jaina shouted after her. "Unless you're here with Wedge, you can just fly back to wherever you came from!"

Leia did not bother acknowledging the comment. She walked to her ship, and Jaina went back to work. Both mother and daughter parted ways, each thinking they had won.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Eriana and Mara made their way around the outside of Krayt's compound checking through the windows to see if they could find Jacen. They were easily able to avoid detection using one of Mara's periscopes to check out the windows. The patrols were light, mostly depending on the remoteness of the facility and planet for safety, and were therefore easy to avoid. The two women had travelled almost three-quarters of the way around the building before they finally found what they were looking for. Standing in a large training room in front of Darth Krayt was Jacen, holding Krayt's glare with a classic Solo smirk on his face. Between them and Jacen was a heavily tattooed Twi'lek woman with hardly any clothes on and a lightsaber at her hip.

"What is your plan?" Eriana asked.

"I was going to go in there, kill Krayt, and beat the crap out of anyone who got in my way," Mara whispered back grimly. "Is your arm up for it?"

"The arm's healed enough to fight now," Eriana said, extending it to prove her range of motion. She activated her communicator. "But I have another idea. This is Bha'lir. Initiation operation: Fluffy Shield."

"Fluffy shield?"

"You'll see," Eriana smiled back. "Get ready. We'll only have a short window once they realize what is going on."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Darth Krayt stared at Jacen Solo, their eyes locked in a battle of wills to see who would blink first. Despite being slightly shorter than the armoured Sith Lord, Jacen did not let the larger man intimidate him. He kept his eyes locked on the red and blue orbs and returned the glare of hate with one of mild amusement.

"Lord Krayt," a voice came from behind Jacen, which finally distracted the Sith Lord's gaze. "A large fleet just dropped into orbit and is attacking our command ship. Their strategy is unlike anything we've seen before!"

Krayt looked back at Jacen and narrowed his eyes. He pushed past the Jedi and left the room with the messenger.

"He _will_ kill you if you push him too far," Zara finally broke the silence. "We should pursue Black Sun and wipe them out."

"I'm done with Krayt," Jacen said. "I'm sorry, Zara. I need to go."

Jacen looked over her shoulder and she followed his gaze to see two women entering the room through a window, both dressed in black, but one with red hair, the wearing a black helmet.

"I understand," Zara said slowly. "But I'll be killed if I let you go."

"Come with?"

"I have no place among the Jedi."

"Then we'd better make my escape look good," Jacen suggested with a smile. Zara returned the smile and turned to the two women.

"Intruders!" Zara shouted and ignited her lightsaber. She ran at Eriana ready to strike, but Eriana intercepted the attack with her twin gold blades with feigned laziness and planted a fast spinning side kick on the younger woman's chest, sending her sprawling. Mara's violet lightsaber was on in a flash and together the Jedi and Jensaarai attacked Zara with uncanny coordination, quickly overwhelming her defenses and striking her arm with a light blow. A strike from Mara gouged Zara's left leg, and Jacen sensed a killing slash coming from Eriana's left lightsaber. He ignited his own lightsaber and sprinted into the battle, rolling under Mara's attack that Zara feeblely tried to defend against, jumping over Eriana's right lightsaber as she drew it back, and intercepted her left lightsaber with his right hand blade.

Startled by Jacen's interception, Eriana lost focus long enough for Jacen to land and ignite his other lightsaber, intercepting Mara's attack and effectively shielded Zara from either of their attacks with his two blades and his body. He locked eyes with Eriana through the blackened visor of her helmet and smirked.

"Nobody hurts my _girlfriend_," Jacen growled. "Not even you."

The booming laugh behind Eriana and Mara caught them off guard, but the voice that followed sent shivers down their spines.

"Attachment is the downfall of every Jedi," Krayt said. "Finish them, and take your rightful place at my side, young Solo."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

A grunt of pain escaped through the comm, alerting Han that their mission had suddenly taken a turn for the worse. He turned around to look where he knew Boba Fett had been following him a second before to see a bright rod of red plasmic energy protruding sideways through the chest of the old bounty hunter, and an evil smile on a tattooed human Bogan Warrior that was holding Fett up for his final breaths.

"Han," Fett grunted painfully, the words echoing through Han's helmet as if there were no other sounds in the universe. "Finish this…for…family."

Fett slumped to the ground, and the Bogan warrior tossed aside the shell of the best bounty hunter of his generation.

Han could hear troops coming up behind him, and he suddenly knew that this would be his last stand, his last opportunity to fight for what was right, and his last chance to protect the ones he loved. He thought of Anakin, Jacen, Jaina, Luke, Mara, Ben, his grandchildren, Chewie, and, of course, Leia as he tossed his blaster rifle aside and pulled a device from his belt.

"Stop," Han said, holding out his hand toward the approaching Bogan Warrior. To his surprise, the man did stop. The Bogan laughed held out his lightsaber unthreateningly to the side.

"Do you think you can get still away from me?"

"No," Han said with a smile, removing his blue helmet and tossing it to the ground at the other man's feet. "I just wanted my last words."

"What's that, old man?"

Han flicked the trigger on the device in his hand. As one, two hundred modified seismic charges that had been placed throughout the shipyard and planted in key locations inside the massive Obsidian class destroyer lit up with a blue glow, just like the one remaining on Han's back. A thousand kilos of collapsium gas ignited, preparing to crack the mantle of the Bogan homeworld and shatter the shipyard and ships above.

The former smuggler and rogue, who, after a lifetime of doing the impossible, finally faced death for the last time with a cocky lopsided grin on his face knowing his end had arrived.

"I _always_ shoot first, kid."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

A/N: This is the end of Part 2. Part 3 will continue...whenever I get around to finishing it...


	20. Part 3: Ch 18 Truth of Character

Part 3 - Consequences Chapter 18 – Truth of Character

Jacen attacked Mara and Eriana, driving them back away from both Zara and Krayt with the lethal efficiency of Vaapad. While Eriana fell into their old dance, Mara fought against Jacen with increasing anger, desperate to land a blow on her traitorous nephew. An expert parry from Eriana sent his lightsaber tumbling away, forcing him to switch to a double-handed grip on his brother's lightsaber against three opposing blades. Unable to keep up, Jacen began losing ground and retreated towards Krayt.

"Help me, Krayt!" Jacen shouted between blows. "I can't fight them alone!"

Jacen could sense the conflict in Krayt. For one, he wanted to test his prospective apprentice's skill against two Master level Jedi; on the other hand, he also knew Jacen's death would mean his own. He ignited his red lightsaber and stepped in toward the battle to assist Jacen.

As soon as he was close enough, Jacen disengaged with Eriana and redoubled his attack on Mara, catching her off guard with his sudden aggression and drove her back a couple paces. Before Mara could centre herself and strike against him, Jacen winked at her, turned around, yanked his lost lightsaber to his hand from across the room, and joined Eriana's Vaapad onslaught against Krayt. Mara watched in awe as Jacen and Eriana combined to fight in perfect deadly unison to tear through Krayt's defense in mere seconds, driving him back against a wall where he was disarmed and pinned with Eriana's two yellow lightsabers crossed at his neck.

By the time Mara had blinked twice to confirm that she had seen what she thought she had seen, Jacen had deactivated his lightsabers and called Krayt's own lightsaber hilt to his hand.

"So you want me as your apprentice, eh?" Jacen mocked. "Why don't you go shove your head up an exhaust pipe and breathe deep?"

He pressed Krayt's own lightsaber hilt to the Sith Lord's chest and activated it, electing a scream of agony from the old warrior.

"I know your minions are on their way," Jacen said conversationally, twisting the angle of the blade slightly to keep up the pain. Krayt growled through his grit teeth and his eyes blazed with hatred. "But we'll get away. I do have a present for you before I go, for helping me find out the truth about the Black Sun. I hope you enjoy it."

"Are you...going to...kill me?"

"No," Jacen said with a vicious smile. "But let's just say I'm a big fan of some old school Jedi justice."

Jacen put a hand against Krayt's chest and concentrated for a moment. About ten seconds later, a team of Bogan warriors sprinted into the room to see Zara clutching her injured leg and their Dark Lord unconscious on the ground.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

One thing Jaina absolutely hated about life on a starship was the inability to slam a door. Instead, she punched the wall of her office and bit back a curse as pain shot from her knuckles up her wrist. Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, she pressed the button to open her office door and entered the bridge.

As usual, her executive officer was immediately at her side with a report for her to look at.

"Admiral, we need…"

"Shut up, Aton," Jaina barked. "I know, we need everything. I just got off the line with Admiral Antilles. Our request for line time on the main shipyard to produce parts was denied. _Again_."

"I understand that, Admiral," Aton said without even a hint of surprise or concern about his Admiral's frustration. "I have some ideas…"

"I have an idea," Jaina interrupted him again. "Find me two of our best programmers. Have them report to my office."

Jaina turned to re-enter her office when Aton spoke up.

"Admiral, you could get court-marshalled for hacking into the shipyard databases."

"_Not_ if nobody finds out about it," Jaina growled, turning back to her XO. Part of her was annoyed that he figured out her plan so quickly, but she was also quite proud to have a sharp officer in her command. "We'll sneak in a few extra work orders here and there, and when they find out they have excess parts, we'll get them. Nothing too big, just a few components that take a long time for the _Ol'Faithful_ to make that are holding up important repairs."

Aton stared at her for a moment as if he was questioning her sanity, but he nodded and saluted.

"Yes, sir."

"Dismissed."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Eriana, Jacen and Mara leapt onto the _Squawking Mynock_'s darkened boarding ramp as it flew by the Sith compound with running lights deactivated and engines in stealth mode. Against Umbara's dark sky the ship went unnoticed by the Bogan sentries.

Jacen and Mara followed Eriana to the cockpit of the _Mynock_, a semi-circular room with a panoramic 180-degree view. Around the outside of the room was a bank of terminals that used HUD technology in conjunction with the sweeping view to provide an impressive array of features, and in the centre was the command chair. The chair spun around to reveal the greying and scarred, but smiling, face of Lanos, the leader of Jacen's Mandalorian team.

"_Ner_ _vod _Jacen, welcome back," Lanos stood up and offered a hand which Jacen shook enthusiastically.

"Great to be back, _Alor_," Jacen said with a broad smile and handed his friend a lightsaber. "Got you a souvenir from Darth Krayt. Status?"

Lanos examined the Sith Lord's lightsaber for a moment before gesturing to the view outside. Parmis was in the pilot seat, flanked by Squeak, Blade, and Trigger, each intently monitoring the skies for pursuit. The black sky of Umbara was broken only by the HUD graphics that brought insight to the weather patterns and distantly detected obstacles. Based on what Jacen could see, only a few flocks of birds were being identified well below them.

"They didn't even see us," Lanos said. "We have a rendez-vous with a Vornskr fleet in orbit. They're holding off one of those big capital ships as we speak."

"My ship is still here," Mara said. "I need to contact Ben and Ami."

"I already issued the order," Eriana spoke up as she removed her helmet. "Once I found you, I sent a message to Lanos to look for the _Jade Shadow_."

"They're coming up right beside us," Lanos said, pointing to the left. Everyone looked out the window and saw the distinctive shape of the _Jade Shadow_ coming into view, with Ben waving his hand at them from the pilot's seat. They were close enough that they could see a big grin plastered across his face, obviously excited about flying his mom's ship.

"We'll be breakin' atmo in thirty seconds," Trigger reported. "Still no signs of pursuit."

"How are the Vornskrs holding off one of those big ships?" Jacen asked. "Nobody has had a chance against them."

"Well, aren't you out of touch?" Eriana asked with a teasing tone. "I blew one up a couple days ago. It took a lot of firepower. But we're not trying to take it out this time, just mess with it. They're really slow, so if you stay in the back quarter of the ship they can't turn their superlaser on you. The ships we brought are fast enough to keep up with their turning speed."

"Still plenty of weapons at the back."

Eriana face broke into a wide grin.

"Yeah, sometimes weapons aren't enough."

The _Mynock_ and _Shadow_ broke through the atmosphere of Umbara and Jacen and Mara took a few steps toward the front viewport to see what Eriana had been elusively talking about. A fleet of several hundred Black Vornskr ships were moving sideways on thrusters keeping track with the back end of the Obsidian-class Destroyer, each one holding an asteroid with its tractor beam between it and the turbolasers that were hammering away at them. Small explosions were also going off in what appeared to be a growing silver nebula between the asteroids and the ships.

"How are they still intact?" Jacen asked in awe. "That much firepower..."

"Would shatter any normal asteroids, yes," Eriana said, stepping up and putting an arm around his shoulder. "But these ones were constructed using an ablative design. We put layers of superconductive metal between layers of duracrete and durasteel. When the superconductive layers melt off, they create a dust cloud that reduces the strength of the turbolaser bolts passing through it. Of course, we can't shoot through it any better than they can, but it's a hell of a shield."

"It would also set off the impact sensors on the proton torpedoes," Mara said approvingly. "'Fluffy shield' is right."

"That's what you called it?" Jacen asked in disbelief. "That name sucks."

"The technology was General Cooper's idea," Eriana admitted. "I wasn't too happy with him when he started ignoring my orders, so I renamed the project to annoy him. Unfortunately these are almost all of the fluffy shield asteroids we have."

The Black Vornskr ships grew in the view screen as they made a straight line for the Victory-class Star Destroyer _Hunter IV_ that was hovering at the edge of the fleet, aiming for the executive hanger bay near the bridge section.

"Are both ships cleared to land?" Eriana asked.

"Yes," Squeak replied, smiling up at her, but his attempt at charming her went unnoticed. "Same hanger bay. ETA is one minute."

"Blade, please signal General Cooper to commence with the retreat and detonate the asteroids," Eriana ordered. "I don't want to leave them anything useful. The dust cloud will give our ships enough protection to make the jump."

As the two freighters entered the hanger bay, Jacen could sense the asteroids exploding across the battlefield. By the time the _Mynock_ was powered down and the boarding ramp dropped, the fleet had already jumped to hyperspace. A tug on Jacen's arm brought his attention to look at the panicked eyes of his aunt.

"Luke needs your help."

Jacen pulled a phial of clear liquid out of his breast pocket and held it up. "I know."

A\N Welcome back :) I'm almost done, and I figured out my integrated plot points for the next story, so I thought I'd celebrate by posting the first chapter of part 3. Hope you enjoyed it.


	21. That which lingers

Krayt embedded his fist into the soft casing of the 2-1B medical droid and he enjoyed the sick pleasure of the electricity arcing through his flesh as the droid slowly died. Zara woke up with a start in the bed beside him and he slowly removed his hand from the droid. He noticed that they had been transferred to his command ship infirmary, and the gentle throb he could feel told him they were in hyperspace. In all likelihood, they were returning to Coruscant.

"Lord Krayt?" the young Twi'lek asked.

"Rest, Zara," Krayt growled. "Our vengeance will take time, but is assured."

"He betrayed me," Zara said. "He called me a _friend_."

"He is more worthy of the title of Sith Lord than he realizes," Krayt said with a mixture of pride and hatred. He painfully sat up, struggling against the hole that had been burned through his side. Thankfully the lightsaber had not cut through his spine, but the wound was healing much slower than he was used to. The Bacta had only been moderately successful at repairing the damage. He reached into the Force and tried to dull the pain, but it felt like looking through a dark tunnel. The Force was _resisting_ being his ally.

"Lord Krayt, you must rest before your next Bacta treatment," a nurse approached him. A pretty young female human dressed in white, Krayt wanted to lash out at her with the Force for ordering him to do _anything_. When he tried, she did not even appear to have noticed that her hair had gently moved.

"What is happening to me?" Krayt demanded, resisting her gentle attempt to make him lie down.

"You were impaled with a lightsaber, m'lord," the nurse said, easily overpowering the weakened Sith Lord and forcing him to lie down. "And your body is not responding well to the Bacta. We think your armour is interfering."

Krayt finally relaxed on the bed, but a sharp pain spidered out from the lightsaber wound across his entire body. It felt as if every nerve was hit by a needle at the same time, and the pain passed as quickly as it came on.

It took him a few moments to recover, breathing heavily to focus himself. When he looked over at Zara he realized that he had probably screamed from the agony. She looked terrified, but remained silent.

Krayt closed his eyes and recalled Jacen's last words to him. _Jedi justice._

He knew Jacen could control Yuuzhan Vong biology in ways that even the shapers themselves could not. He had counted on Jacen to join the Bogan Empire either through appealing to his intelligence or his misguided loyalties, and remove the armour as a courtesy. But he finally realized what Jacen had done to him; the brat had convinced the armour to devour him.

Krayt reached into the Force and tried to draw its power into his rage and burn the armour off if necessary, but not even the glass of water beside his bed trembled. He realized that he could barely sense Zara beside him, and nothing beyond that.

Jacen had not only convinced the armour to destroy him. He had stripped away the Sith Lord's connection to the Force.

"Zara," Krayt growled, closing his eyes and fighting another burst of pain from his armour. His voice trembled as he fought to control his pain and rage. "You must find Jacen. He has much to atone for. His lightsabers have tracers planted in them. You will find the tracking codes on a data card in my quarters on my desk beside my holocron. You know him better than any of my servants. Track him down and bring him to me."

"Yes, m'lord," Zara said, but the nurse shook her head.

"No, you need rest. Both of you. You're both due for another Bacta treatment in one hour."

The nurse walked away, but both Sith Lord and Bogan assassin could see they were being watched. For the next hour, they waited for their Bacta treatment wondering how their next encounter with Jacen Solo would turn out.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

With a bright red and white glow, the mask of carbonite peeled away from the body of Luke Skywalker and he painfully inhaled his first breath of air. As the thawing process was completing, Jacen put a hand on Luke's forehead and reached out toward his connection in the Force as if flicking a switch in his brain and turned it off. Next, he took the injector in his hand and shoved against Luke's carotid artery, injecting him with the molecularly modified water solution he had prepared weeks before.

"What?" Luke demanded and started to thrash around, but Jacen applied the Force to steady his uncle and prevent him from moving.

"Easy, Uncle Luke," Jacen said, applying the Force to him in calming waves as if he were a scared bantha. "It's me, Jacen. I just injected you with the cure for the Vong spores."

"I can't see," Luke said, settling down with Jacen's reassuring presence, but his blue eyes looked around sightlessly. "And I can't feel the Force."

"I disconnected you from it," Jacen said calmly. "There's no time to waste, and I didn't want to be peeled off the bulkhead for using an injector on your neck. The carbonite thawing process has been described as rather unsettling."

"Believe it."

"I'm going to reconnect you now," Jacen said and reactivated his uncle's connection to the Force. "You should put yourself into a healing trance. I'll work with you to finish neutralizing the poison, and then we'll have to put you in the _Shadow_'s Bacta tank. There is considerable damage."

"I understand. I can't feel my legs."

"I know. You need to get into a healing trance, now."

An hour later Jacen placed his uncle in the horizontal Bacta tank and affixed the breathing apparatus to his face. He activated the auto-engage sequence and stepped back, allowing the tank to take over the process of sealing and filling the tube. Mara chose that moment to finally appear.

"Well?"

Jacen shook his head and looked at her. "The good news is that I've neutralized the poison. The bad news is there is some damage that can't be repaired."

"How bad is it?" Mara demanded. Her eyes carried a pleading look, desperate for some news better than Jacen could report. They both stood with their eyes locked on the level of Bacta in the tank as it slowly filled up over Luke's body.

"Even while in carbonite the poison spores were eating away at the nerves in his spine," Jacen said slowly. "Based on what I could sense, there is up to a ninety percent degradation in signal quality from his brain to his feet. The poison may have entered through his legs and worked its way up, which explains why his arms are functioning fine."

"Ninety percent?"

Jacen hesitated as his uncle began to float in the viscous blue-tinged fluid.

"I'm not a doctor, but if I was to hazard a guess, and I have to say I'm getting too good at my guesses," Jacen said. "Unless he gets a prosthetic spine, he'll never walk again."

"But prosthetic spines only provide up to sixty percent..." Mara stopped talking when she realized what she was saying.

"I know," Jacen said, pulling his aunt into a hug. "I know."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

A cold chill down her spine warned Jaina of an impending confrontation before the doors to the bridge of the _Ol'Faithful_ opened.

As the doors opened, the distinctive voice of Emriss Kol rang through the bridge, silencing everyone. "Jaina Solo, you stuck up brat! How _dare_ you reorganize my flight group without consulting me?"

Jaina slowly turned toward the seething woman as she approached and said "That's 'Admiral Solo,' _Commander_ Kol."

Emriss pointed a finger at Jaina's face so it was an inch from her nose. "You switched the shift lengths on me over night."

"I did."

"And didn't even tell me! I had half my patrol ready to fly and the knuckle draggers didn't have my fighters ready because we were four hours early!"

"Should've checked the schedule," Jaina said calmly and turned back to the diagnostic console she had been reviewing.

"I'm changing it back."

"If you do, I'll relieve you of duty," Jaina turned her attention back to Emriss and crossed her arms across her chest. "I'm sure I could find a primate that will follow my orders better."

"You have _no_ respect for authority," Emriss growled. "The fighter group is _my_ responsibility, not yours. Keep your arrogant, stuck-up nose out of my command."

"I'm _your_ commander," Jaina said. "I expect my orders to be followed. I told you to change the fighter group…"

"And I told you we don't have the man power," Emriss cut her off and shook her head. "Your orders, my ass. You aren't fit to give orders. You aren't a third the leader your father was."

Jaina punched Emriss square on the jaw with a Force-enhanced punch hard enough for the other woman to do a pirouette and stumble back several paces.

"Don't you _dare_ talk about my dad," Jaina seethed. "Get off my ship."

"You're pathetic," Emriss spat. "You got this job with a name you're not worthy of carrying."

Jaina used the Force and shoved the offending officer across the bridge toward the door.

"I SAID GET OFF MY SHIP!" Jaina screamed. Another push shoved the woman tumbling out the door, and a third pushed her well down the hall.

Jaina finally noticed the entire bridge crew staring at her in shock.

"Get back to work," Jaina barked and retreated to her office, forgetting about whatever diagnostics she had been looking at.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

An hour after Luke had been put into the bacta tank Mara and Jacen finally left the small med suite on the _Jade Shadow_ to find Eriana, Ben, and the cute red-headed girl that Jacen had not yet been introduced to sitting in the common area. Jacen saw an unexpected side of his aunt during that hour, one he had never seen before. He knew she had been the Emperor's Hand, a cold, ruthless black ops agent, and as a Jedi she was always one of the more emotionally reserved. He knew she had killed hundreds of targets in cold blood under the service of the Emperor and could probably list a hundred ways to kill someone in a single breath if she tried. But today he saw her as a lost little girl trying desperately to cling onto what was left of her life. She cried about Luke, the family, carrying too many secrets, and Jacen felt completely awkward that she picked _him_ to unload on, not to mention lost on a few topics she had babbled on about while he sat there in silence. He held her, consoled her, and did his best to ease her troubled mind, but watching one of the people who had been a rock in his life shatter in front of him was not easy.

Jacen took a seat beside Eriana on an acceleration couch and Mara took a comfortable plush chair. Everyone sat in a solemn silence until Jacen finally broke it.

"Thank you," Jacen said. "All of you. I know you stopped at nothing to find me and..."

"You're the closest thing to family I've ever had," Eriana said, reaching over and giving his hand a squeeze to cut him off. "And I'm the one who left you behind. Of course I had to go after you."

Ben and Mara nodded in agreement, and, surprisingly, the other girl did as well.

"I'm sorry," Jacen looked at the red-headed girl sitting across from him. She was quite pretty, looked about his age, and bore a striking resemblance to both Ben and Mara. "I don't know who you are."

"Your cousin," she said quite sarcastically. She nodded her head toward Mara, and he could sense a very strong tone of resentment in the gesture. "Guess who kept me a secret."

_So _that's_ the secret Aunt Mara was crying about,_ Jacen thought and looked to his aunt. She smiled grimly.

"Do you know who...umm...?"

"Luke is her father," Mara said in a soft, emotionless voice. "He doesn't know about Amidala yet."

"Oh," Jacen said and looked back and forth between Mara and Ami. "Well, umm, welcome to the family, Amidala."

"I go by Ami," she corrected him with a sharp tone that seemed more directed at Mara than at him. "And I'm not staying. I have a job I have to get back to. Hopefully I'll never see any of you again."

Mara closed her eyes and clenched her jaw. Ben looked at Ami with a pained expression, but she kept her eyes locked on Jacen as if daring him to convince her otherwise.

"Probably for the best," Jacen agreed, despite knowing it would not be the popular thing to say. "This family isn't the safest one to be a part of. Heck, even _I've_ been kidnapped and blackmailed in the past year."

Eriana and Ben laughed at his comment, and Mara even found a tiny smile. Ami merely seemed a little confused.

"Jacen, we're on course to Corellia to meet up with Shada," Eriana said. "With Karrde's passing, Shada has asked me to meet her there and absorb his operation. I don't know who could run it right now, but I can't do both jobs."

"Don't ask," Mara said immediately. "Not interested."

Eriana and Jacen both laughed, but Ami held her hand up tentatively while awkwardly looking back and forth between Jacen and Eriana as if she was seeing both of them again for the first time.

"Umm...I'm sorry," Ami said. "Who are you and why are _you_ taking over Karrde's operation?"

"I'm Eriana. I'm the leader of the Black Vornskrs."

"Oh!" Ami's eyes went wide as she realized the importance of the company she was in. "_That's_ why we docked on a Black Vornskr Star Destroyer with no questions asked. I thought the leader of the Vornskrs was some crazy Dathomirian witch that ate people's eyeballs for looking at her the wrong way."

"The media never gets anything right." Eriana smiled. "Not that I'm complaining. Intimidation is good in this line of work."

"Aren't you a Jedi though? I thought Jedi and pirates don't mix."

"It's complicated," Eriana said, avoiding the mention of her Jensaarai heritage since she was not completely sure if she could trust the newest addition to the Skywalker clan. "Karrde's been one of our strongest supporters from the beginning."

"I guess you're my new boss then," Ami said with new found embarrassment. "I've been infiltrating Fleet Procurement and Deployment on Coruscant. That's how I knew how to find you. I'm planning on going back and resuming my cover."

"Don't."

All eyes turned to Mara in surprise at her remark, but Ami's gaze hardened.

"I don't need career advice from you, _mother._"

Mara finally turned and faced her daughter. She looked weary, almost defeated and unwilling to put up a fight, but still determined to make her point heard. "The fight you got into on Tattooine has already spread word that one of Karrde's people infiltrated Krayt's government. It'd be suicide to go back. Karrde and I had a rule: never put a good agent into the same bad situation twice. You can only count on people to be duped once."

"That's not your..."

"No," Eriana interrupted. "It seems to be my decision now. Pending confirmation from Shada that you can be trusted, you'll come back with us until we can find a use for your skills."

"But..."

"Consider those to be your current orders, Miss Jade," Eriana said and stood up. "I need to go to the bridge. Jacen, can you please join me? I want to prepare for our meeting with Shada."

Jacen and Eriana exited the _Jade Shadow_, and three steps off the end of the ramp Ami caught up to Jacen and grabbed him by the arm.

"I want to go with you."

"Shada only asked for us to be there," Eriana said with a tinge of annoyance in her voice. "It's an informal meeting."

"No, you don't understand," Ami said, pointing back toward the _Jade Shadow_. "I can't _stay_ with her. Every second I'm around her she's judging me without even saying anything. I...I've always been in control, but around her everything is just..."

"You can't live up to her legend?" Jacen offered.

Ami looked at him in surprise, as if he was the first person she had ever met who understood her, and nodded enthusiastically. "Yes! Exactly! I've _always_ been compared to her. No matter whatever I do, _she's_ the platinum standard. Being around her is a billion times worse."

"She's right about going back to Coruscant," Jacen said. "If you stay with us, we'll have to find you a new assignment."

"I know," Ami agreed. "This is what I'm talking about. She...I can't think clearly when I have her judging me. I promise I'll do better. You _won't_ regret keeping me on if you do."

Jacen looked back at Eriana, who shrugged at him. He pulled Ami into a hug, which she returned after a second of stunned inaction. After he released her he slid an arm around her shoulder and they continued following Eriana out of the hanger.

"Living up to the legend," Jacen repeated as they neared the door. "Like I said, welcome to the family."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Zara was discharged from the infirmary after her second two-hour Bacta treatment. Bacta, in conjunction with a healing trance, had virtually healed up the wounds in her arm and leg to the point where she could get along with only a slight limp. As instructed, after dressing herself in her usual outfit, she proceeded directly to Lord Krayt's quarters to acquire the tracking codes for the devices implanted in Jacen's lightsabers. She entered the code she had been given to open the door, and the door opened to reveal a dark room lit only by a soft red glow. She entered the room cautiously, still afraid of the essence of Krayt despite knowing he was half the ship away struggling to recover from having his own lightsaber ignited through his chest.

Moving quickly and silently as she had been taught as to avoid any lurking ghosts that might alert Lord Krayt to her presence, she half-ran across the room toward his desk but stopped when she saw the holocron. The ancient Sith device glowed with a tantalizing pulsing red light from within. She slowly approached the desk, mesmerized by the light coming from the holocron. She reached toward it, her fingers stretching toward the black surface, and she moved her hand away just before touching it and palmed the only datacard on the desk. She took two steps back away from the desk and turned around, walking toward the door. About a metre away from the door, she turned back and looked at the holocron, still pulsing with its enchanting red light.

An hour after her incursion into Lord Krayt's quarters, Zara felt the giant warship drop out of hyperspace even inside her little ship, _Fang_. The navicomputer uplink indicated that they had arrived at Coruscant, and Zara requested an immediate departure on Lord Krayt's authority. Once she cleared the hanger bay and set a course for the other _Obsidian_-Class warship in the system, the _Tormenter_, her heart finally stopped pounding in her ears. She reached into the hidden compartment she had discovered under the console and extracted Lord Krayt's holocron. She reached into the Force and nudged it back to life, the red pulsing light reawakening like the sick perversion of a heartbeat.

The image of a cloaked figure appeared above the holocron cast in the same eerie red light.

"_Who disturbs the slumber of Darth Vectivus?_" the hooded projection asked.

"My name is Zara," she replied, her voice trembling slightly. She could feel the holocron reaching out toward her, probing her mind with the Force.

"_You are but a child, Zara_," Vectivus said. "_Return to me when you find your light_."

The figure of Vectivus disappeared, leaving Zara very confused.

_Why would a Sith Lord tell me to turn to the light?_

Unable to dwell on it any more, _Fang_ was close enough to the _Tormenter_ to request docking clearance, and thirty minutes later she was on the bridge marching up to Wyyrlok. The panoramic view of the outside of the ship always caught Zara off guard every time she entered the bridge of an _Obsidian_ Class destroyer, and she had to focus this time to ignore it so she could retain the respect of the crew. In the middle of the bridge at a data console she saw the Chagrian Bogan Warrior named Wyyrlok, the one often said to be Lord Krayt's most valued servant.

"Ah, Zara, we meet again," Wyyrlok said with an indifferent tone. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Lord Krayt ordered for Jacen Solo to be returned to Coruscant," Zara snapped with as much authority as she could muster and handed him the data card she had brought with her. "Use these codes to track the transmitters immediately. We will leave once you have a lock on the signal."

Wyyrlok turned to face her with a look of amusement on his tattooed red and black face. He gently plucked the data card from her fingers and smirked at her.

"Of course, m'lady," Wyyrlok said as sarcastically as he could. "It would be my honour."

Not willing to stoop to her superior's banter, she turned and marched toward the bridge exit.

"Will you need quarters, your highness?" Wyyrlok continued his sarcastic tone.

"I'll stay in my ship," Zara called back. Despite being entitled to quarters on any ship she was stationed on, her thoughts retreated to only one thing – deciphering the holocron.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-


	22. Reunion

Covering the last two chapters of reviews because I was a slacker last time. Such a slacker that I'm 3 days late posting this one too. Sorry about that. I was on vacation and came home to a new internet technology installation and a golf tournament...busy weekend.

Onimiman - Jacen will detail his reasons for not killing Krayt in the text conveniently located below ;) I had a goal for the big three with this story - take out two of them out of the action. I just need to figure out how to proceed with Luke without turning him into Caine. (Bonus points if you know who I'm referring to ;))

Sioux - When I was creating the Yoda class ships, I ran through a whole bunch of specs for what I wanted in this new class of ship. High maneuverability, creative new weapon systems, some sort of ablative armour system, etc...then I realized I had "created" the U.S.S. Defiant from Deep Space Nine. I think I took out the ablative armour system (memory systems failing, master), but I decided to use it in this creation. Regarding Zara, I did consider sending her along with him, but I kept her behind for three reasons: she has killed Jedi, so she would likely not be welcome among them even with Jacen's protection (not to mention she just got chopped up by two); she still doesn't know what she wants to do with herself but she knows that being a Jedi isn't one of them; and, finally, she knows there's nothing going to happen between her and Jacen to take the risk that going with him would entail.

JDR - Glad you liked that twist. It basically makes Krayt into a time-delayed implosion, which I thought was pretty smart considering what's in this chapter :) I feel that everyone of the majors needs to have a hardship on them, especially leading into the next story. The next one is going to be as much about them overcoming their personal daemons as much as taking on the Bogan Empire, and each one is going to tackle their problems differently. Some might hit the bottle, others might fight harder, there might be a catfight between Jaina and Eriana in a pool of jello...there are some good possibilities to work with. I think these personal interactions are going to be among the most exciting things to write about, and I hope it makes for a good story. I hate writing lovey-dovey relationship crap (hence why I completely glossed over the Jacen/TK wedding,) so if I can do a story where they're all pissed off at each other, I think I can make the interactions work out. Ami will be featured in the next story as well, and she will be working with some more experienced Jedi. Vectivus...well, where do you think Krayt got his MBA? He's the only truly business-minded Sith Lord I could find that might teach Krayt about economics and give him this new mindset opposed to the usual "Let's control everything through fear!" mantra. So, no, Krayt never had it in canon, but Vectivus seems a lot more down to earth and I think he'll be a good role model for Zara.

Chapter 20 - Reunion

Jacen and Eriana were awaiting the start of their meeting when a door chime interrupted their conversation in the otherwise empty meeting room. Jacen triggered the door release from across the room to see Luke being pushed into the room in a medical hoverchair by Mara.

"Uncle Luke! How are you?" Jacen exclaimed, mostly surprised to see his uncle out of a Bacta tank. "I thought you had another Bacta treatment."

"The Bacta has done all it can," Luke said with a grim smile. "We will...need to look at other options for further treatment."

A quick glance at Mara told Jacen all he needed to know – Luke would likely need the spinal surgery as Jacen had guessed. He nodded and gestured for them to join the table.

"We were just about to have a conference with key members of the rebellion," Jacen said. "Apparently someone has stepped up as the leader and has already created planetary resistance cells on over two hundred planets."

"Any idea who it is?" Mara asked as she wheeled Luke up to the table and took her own seat beside him. She took Luke's hand in hers and Jacen felt a moment of longing for Tenel Ka's presence at his side.

"No idea yet," Eriana said. "But whoever they are, they're doing a hell of a good job."

They continued to chat for a few minutes about Jacen's captivity and rescue, and Jacen quickly realized by the tone of the conversation that Mara had not yet told Luke about Ami. At an awkward moment where Jacen almost said something about Ami, an alarm chimed indicating that the other parties were ready for the meeting. Eriana cued the flat panel holoscreen and a split view showing a very upset looking pair of Wedge and Leia on one side and Lowbacca and Tenel Ka on the other side. Jacen looked at Tenel Ka with surprise, and he noticed a tiny little smile in the corner of her mouth as she looked directly back at him.

"Luke!" Wedge exclaimed upon seeing him, his angry demeanour dropping. "Good to see you, old buddy! How're you doing?"

Luke gave the same grim smile he gave Jacen earlier and shook his head. "Not well, Red Two," Luke said, using Wedge's old call sign from the Battle of Yavin. "It will be a long road to recovery."

"Sorry to hear that, Red Five," Wedge said. "Hope it's not as long a road as you expect."

"Thanks."

"I'm glad you're all here," Wedge said. "I apologize for the delay. We had a little incident in the fleet a few moments ago that held us up."

"Nothing too serious, I hope," Eriana said.

"We'll get over it," Wedge said darkly, his eyes flicking at Jacen for half a second, catching the younger man off guard with the momentary hostility. "More importantly, I'd like you all to meet the leader of our rebellion against Krayt's rule, and I believe you're all acquainted with her – Former Queen of Hapes, Tenel Ka."

Wedge's glare forgotten, Jacen's eyes shot between Lowie and Tenel Ka with concern. Reaching out toward Tenel Ka, he sent an empathic remark. _You could have told me when I called an hour ago!_

_And spoil the surprise?_ Tenel Ka sent back with the emotional equivalent of a wink.

"Haven't met her before," Jacen said nonchalantly. "Could you run through some qualifications? Maybe get a letter of recommendation?"

Everyone chuckled, including Tenel Ka, except for Eriana who spoke up.

"Tenel Ka, thank you for taking the first steps. I know we've all been a little distracted lately."

"It was my pleasure," Tenel Ka replied. "Lowbacca has been a great aid to the cause as well. We hope to incorporate both your fleets into our efforts once we understand our goals and capabilities."

"I'll start," Jacen said. "I think I have the most recent intel on Krayt. He's in trouble."

"Did you complete the mission?" Luke asked, eager for some good news.

"Yes," Jacen replied. "I stuck a lightsaber in his side and severely damaged his connection to the Force. I discovered this ability in my travels that I _really_ hate the idea of, but I figured it was necessary this time. I put a drop of my blood into his wound. As long as he's connected to the Force, which he barely is right now, I can tell which direction he is relative to where I am. Based on the map I was looking at about an hour ago, I think he's near Coruscant."

"That'll be useful," Wedge said. Luke, however, looked extremely concerned, but said nothing.

"I thought so," Jacen said grimly. "I also discovered when I met him that his Yuuzhan Vong armour is getting too old and big, and is starting to devour him. It's like having too big a predator in an ecosystem that eats all the food. That's why he didn't kill me – when I neutralized the poison spores he used on us he realized that I could control Vong biotech. He wanted me to convince it to get off him. I convinced it to do the complete opposite."

[So we can expect Krayt to be out of the picture within...six months?] Lowie asked.

"Less than that," Jacen said. "One or two, tops. That armour is hungry and growing fast. Well, fast on relative terms. I have no idea what he's going to end up as when it finishes growing. For all I know, I could have made things worse for us."

"What does this mean for them?" Eriana asked. "Would it have been better to kill him? This makes it possible for him to establish a successor."

"I think he already has one," Jacen said. "Unfortunately, my travelling companion didn't know who it was, or wasn't willing to tell me."

"Either he'll try to hold onto power as he loses his mind," Leia said. "Which would be great for us. Or he'll put someone else in charge. This could go either way, depending on how blood thirsty the new person is."

"That's the thing about Krayt," Jacen said. "I think he wasn't all that bad. Unlike Soora Bulq, I could actually empathise with what Krayt was trying to achieve. He went through his entire manifesto with me in a bid to bring me to his side. He honestly believes he's doing the galaxy some good by cleansing it, but his real goal is to establish a unified economic environment across the galaxy to inspire prosperity and peace. I think he's insane, but the way he was talking actually seemed to curb his bloodlust. Unless he put someone else through the Economic School of Darth Krayt, whoever replaces him is probably going to be a whole lot more dangerous."

"This does not change our goals," Tenel Ka said. "We must continue to undermine their military strength in order to liberate planets from their control."

"How the heck do we do that?" Eriana asked. "I needed almost all of the Vornskr capital ships to take one of those _Obsidian_ class ship out, and most of our weaponry is illegal to the point that it could be more dangerous to us than our opponent. We had to invent new battle strategies, some that I doubt we'll be able to use more than once or twice. We've had marginal success using planetary shield generators on a Super Star Destroyer to block the turbolaser, but we're still replacing the burned out shield generator and power conduits on our one SSD. If we face two ships, or if they get a second shot in, we're toast. All in all, we're barely keeping up."

"We've been working on counter tactics," Wedge said. "We finally got our prototype superlasers to check out and we're installing them on five of our capital ships as we speak. My entire fleet will be ready to move out in three weeks with twenty superlaser-equipped ships. By our calculations, if we can hit them with one of our superlasers before they can hit us, we should be able to at least cause enough damage to one of those _Obsidian_ class destroyers that they won't be able to fire back."

"That's a big if," Mara said sceptically.

"We're also working on the planetary shield mod, too," Wedge said. "Ours are untested. Maybe we can compare notes, Eriana?"

"I'll see what I can do about clearing the engineers that worked on that project to talk to your people," Eriana said apprehensively. "Unfortunately I might not be able to do more than get the schematics. The Vornskrs operate on layers of secrecy so the rank and file don't know what we're really up to at the top. If I start punching holes through those layers, I could have a mutiny on my hands when word spreads about what's really going on. We've been pushing it as it is with some of the operations we had to do to rescue Jacen. Hosting the well-known Skywalker-Solo clan on board my command ship hasn't helped either. I don't know how much longer we can keep up the ruse."

"Do you think the Vornskrs might be willing to join the rebellion?" Leia asked. "I know you're running a pirating operation right now, but can we turn them into freedom fighters?"

"I'd be shocked if we could pull it off," Eriana said. "Upwards of eighty percent of my people are in it for the money, and they're the ones who carry the guns. I'm still trying to figure out what happens when we get rid of the Bogan Empire. The Vornskrs are too becoming powerful to keep together in a time of peace, and we're growing by the day. I'm not going to authorize attacks on Jedi Coalition targets, but when Bogan targets disappear, I'm going to have a lot of well-armed pirates looking to be paid. Right now I don't want to turn away good people willing to fight against Krayt for profit, but we might end up with a criminal empire too big to control that was built under the approval of the Jedi. Just imagine the political fallout of _that_.

"My admirals are on board with my goals, but I've had to start using fear tactics to keep one of them in line. It might just be a matter of time before they decide to splinter and I suddenly find myself with my six fleets leaving me behind on some desolate rock. I never expected us to grow this big."

"We are talking about a pirate organization, right?" Wedge asked. "How big can the Vornskrs be?"

"A year ago we were half a million people with about seven hundred mid-to-large ships," Eriana replied. "We just topped three and a half a million members and have over five thousand ships consisting of capital ships, fighters, and everything in between. We're paying salaries at a rate of about two hundred trillion credits per year. Don't forget that we have all sorts of other costs, like parts, maintenance, armaments and food – our operating budget is over half a quadrillion credits. The vast majority of it we steal from the Bogans, but we're having a harder time finding targets to poach and keeping up with the cash flow requirements. When the Bogan well dries up, we're going to have a serious problem on our hands, especially with these large ships. They're not easy to keep flying."

"Where did you get so many ships?" Leia asked in awe. "We've been having a hard time finding any capital ships."

"Well, it helped that the Royal Hapan family found a way to entrust a sizeable chunk of funds under my care before Hapes was destroyed," Eriana smiled at Tenel Ka, who received a grim nod in response. "We put a shipyard in orbit around Hoth that is building modified _Pirhana_ class assault ships using the asteroid field there for raw materials. I have three fleets made up entirely of those that have been raiding supply lines and collecting the majority of our income, and we're also using our shipbuilding capabilities to build luxury yachts and freighters that we're selling under a shadow corporation to make ends meet. We've also been buying ships off the Mandalorians for a discount in exchange for protection, capturing a lot of big ships – and entire crews – from the Imperial Remnant, and raiding Bogan installations for fighters. It's amazing what you can find lying around."

Everyone sat in silence contemplating Eriana's predicament until Tenel Ka spoke up. "We should all consider how to deal with the Black Vornskrs when the time comes. Perhaps for now we should avoid arming the Vornksrs with superlaser technology so our partnership is less evident and the balance of power is not disturbed too much."

"Agreed," Jacen and Eriana said in unison.

"I have had some success arranging a partnership with the Chiss Ascendency and maintaining the one with Corellia," Tenel Ka continued. "Unfortunately very few are willing to stand up to Krayt. The corporate sector has rebuffed every attempt at communication."

"I think I know why," Jacen said. "It looks like there's a new player in the game trying to wiggle into the cracks left between us and the Bogan Empire. I know we all thought them destroyed, but it appears Black Sun is making a comeback."

While Wedge, Leia, Luke and Mara looked at Jacen in surprise, Eriana reached for her datapad.

"I saw a report on them last week," Eriana said. "Someone's been sending data packages to us about Black Sun. Considering how vague the data was, we dismissed as misinformation."

"Well, if the intel I got is accurate, their home base is Synergy Technology," Jacen said. "The CEO is probably the new underlord."

"Synergy Technology," Mara held up her LinkCom. "You mean the guys who make these?"

"Yes," Jacen confirmed. "They're using those things to spy on everyone. Anywhere that has a holonet receiver turns one of those devices into part of the spy network. They track movements, communications, everything. That's how Black Sun is being reborn – by getting everyone to spy on themselves."

"Lowie, can you pull those mysterious reports together and take another look at them?" Eriana asked. "There might be more there than we originally thought."

Luke took his LinkCom out of his pocket and tapped it against his other hand. "If they're spying on us, I think we could use their eyes to our advantage."

"Disinformation," Leia said.

"Exactly," Luke replied. "We could feed them bad data through the network."

"I'd rather issue the order to chuck 'em as soon as we're done here," Wedge said. "Based on our fleet wide network activity we estimate about fifteen thousand devices are being used. Coordinating that amount of disinformation is going to be impossible."

[And if only a handful of units are transmitting on a fleet this size,] Lowie continued. [It'll be obvious we're on to them.]

"Luckily we're out of holonet range here," Wedge said. "We're using a secure relay for the few communications we've had to, but otherwise we've been off the grid for a couple months now."

"My tech guys didn't like the device to begin with," Eriana said. "Too many security holes to begin with. My senior staff has had a ban on them from day one. I'm not too concerned about the lower ranks because they don't know enough to compromise security. I think Jacen can attest to how much we keep our people in the dark until the mission actually starts, but I'll put a fleetwide ban on them immediately to be safe. Tenel Ka, you should also inform our allies about the LinkComs. We don't want our planetary cells given away by their communicators."

"Agreed," Tenel Ka said. "Next steps?"

"Jacen and I are going to Corellia to meet with Shada about absorbing Karrde's organization," Eriana said. "I'm going to need someone to take it over, especially if I have to take a bigger hand in controlling the Vornskrs. I need to see what her expectations are."

"Admiral Antilles, perhaps it would be worth sending one of your a fleets to Corellia," Tenel Ka said. "Corellia's location could be a valuable base to operate a strike force from."

"Agreed. I'll send the first fleet that has a superlaser equipped Super Star Destroyer," Wedge said. "It should be ready in a few hours. What happens if we run into a Vornskr fleet? You are a bunch of outlaws."

"So are you," Eriana reminded him with a smile. "I'm sure we can agree to avoiding mutually assured destruction for the best interests of both our fleets. 'We won't fire if you don't fire.'"

"That should work," Wedge agreed.

"Lowbacca and I will begin organizing our splinter cells in coordinated attacks against Bogan strongholds," Tenel Ka suggested. "If we cut the legs out from under the rancor, it should fall."

"Hopefully not on us," Jacen said, earning a grim smile from his wife.

"Good meeting, everyone," Wedge said. "We have a lot of work to do, but we're on the right track."

"Get your fleets together and we'll find a use for them with our commandos, Admiral," Tenel Ka said. "Leia Organa, Lowbacca and I will continue working on expanding the number of bases in hostile territory as well."

"And we'll keep pirating," Jacen said. "Arrr!"

With a chuckle, everyone disconnected from the conference at the same time.

"Eriana," Jacen turned to his friend. "Would you mind preparing the notes for our discussion with Shada? I'll join you in a few minutes."

Luke looked between Jacen and Mara, but his eyes locked on his wife as she stared at Jacen with...fear?

"Right away," Eriana said and left the room without question.

Jacen turned his attention to Mara and he could sense her heart racing from across the room.

"That was kind of obvious." Luke said. "What happened?"

"Luke, there's something you need to know," Mara said slowly, correctly sensing that if she did not tell Luke about Ami, Jacen was sending a subtle hint that he would. She let go of his hand and walked a few steps away from him. When she turned around, tears were flowing down her cheeks. "Jacen, would you...?"

Jacen nodded and left the room. He let the door close behind him before he crossed the hallway and opened the door to an identical conference room to the one he just left. Inside, Ben and Ami were in an intense battle playing a handheld video game.

"I've almost got you!" Ben exclaimed.

"Not a chance!" Ami replied. "Just about...Yes!"

Ben tossed the device onto the table and Ami turned to Jacen with a big grin on her face.

"Third win in a row! Superior Jedi reflexes, my scrawny ass!"

"Ami," Jacen said sombrely. "It's time."

Ami's smile disappeared and she gently put the video game onto the table. "Did she tell him?"

"Right now, across the hall."

Jacen took Ami by the hand and led her back across the hall and hesitated before pressing the call button.

"I know you don't owe him one, but please do him a favour," Jacen said. "Go easy on her. It'll be hard enough for both of them."

He pressed the button and two seconds later the door opened. He let Ami enter on her own and retreated to the bridge, trying to ignore the pain he felt coming from the conference room.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"You are not healing, Master."

It was a statement, not a question. After the eighty seven years that A'Sharad Hett had lived, either under his birth name or his Lord of the Sith title, he finally felt his years catching up on him with the simple words from his apprentice. He opened his eyes to look out the view port of his private meditation chamber to see the glittering lights of Coruscant slowly crawling by below him, but he stayed on the floor kneeling.

The lightsaber wound in his gut had, indeed, not been healing. His armour had healed itself over, protecting the gaping holes, but did little to fix the problem. It seemed that the armour had decided it was time to win the long battle against its human host and used the injury as an opportunity to take over. Tendrils from the armour dug deeper into the wound every day and fed on him, making itself stronger while making him weaker.

"My days are numbered, my friend," Krayt admitted with uncharacteristic vulnerability seeping into his heavy words. "It will soon be time for this old warrior to fight his last battle."

The snap-hiss of a lightsaber igniting behind him stabbed his heart with icy fear that felt alien to the old Sith Lord. He took a deep breath and prepared himself for the final blow that would take his life.

"The way of the Sith mandates that I kill my master when he is no longer worthy to lead me."

"That is the mandate," Krayt agreed with an emotionless voice.

"And your mindless outbursts are a threat to our fleet."

Krayt squeezed his heterochromatic eyes closed his eyes and grit his teeth, using what will power he had to push against the influence of the armour at the memory of waking up several times bathed in the blood of hapless victims whose only crime was being near him when he lost control.

"However, I do not believe that your expertise is still required to lead us to victory."

The lightsaber deactivated, and Krayt relaxed slightly.

"The Jedi are too powerful," Krayt said. "With the loss of our homeworld and the devastation of our fleet at Zonoma Sekot, we cannot stand against them."

"We need a victory. A true victory against a military target. We control most of the civilian populations in the core and mid-rim, but we have had little success trying to route their fleets. The Black Vornskrs continue to harass our supply lines, and I _know_ Wedge Antilles is hiding somewhere. He is biding his time, waiting until he has the advantage to strike."

"What do you suggest, my apprentice?"

"Corellia. We put a fleet in hiding around the gravity well and wait for them to drop their defenses. If we destroy Centerpoint Station, we will send a message that we can get them anywhere."

"What if Antilles's fleet is at Corellia?" Krayt asked. He suppressed the urge to cough, forcing his body to obey his will.

"When I left the Jedi, they did not know where Antilles was hiding. Corran Horn would have told the Council if he was there."

Krayt slowly nodded in contemplation. "Send the Third Fleet to Corellia with orders to destroy Centerpoint Station."

"Yes, master."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Seven hundred and fifty small, yet well-armed ships dropped out of hyperspace, led by the Black Vornskr _Victory_-class Star Destroyer _Hunter IV_ to the designated checkpoint for ships to assemble in wait for the gravity well around the Corellian system to be dropped for transit into the system. From the bridge of _Hunter IV_, Eriana and Jacen watched as sensor data populated the tactical displays before them and noted that, other than the Vornskr fleet, only one ship and a sensor buoy were in their immediate vicinity.

"That ship is hailing the sensor buoy," Jacen noted on the readings. "It's transmitting the ident...this can't be right. That's Boba Fett's ship. Why would he want to go to Corellia?"

"Hail him," Eriana suggested. "He's your buddy."

"I wouldn't go that far," Jacen said. Both he and Eriana put headsets on. He modified the communication system to provide a tight beam transmission and pressed the transmit button on the console. "_Slave IV_, this is the Black Vornskr command ship _Hunter IV_. Please confirm pilot name and ship registry."

"_Slave IV looking for Jacen or Jaina Solo_," a droid voice replied from the AIAT/i gunship. Jacen looked at Eriana with a confused expression.

"Jacen Solo here," Jacen said into the receiver. "Boba, is that you? What's going on?"

"_Slave IV requesting clearance to dock._"

Jacen turned to Eriana who shrugged. He looked at the communications officer behind him and pointed at the young man. "Please give that ship docking coordinates. Use an airlock instead of a hanger bay."

"What is going on here?" Eriana whispered. "This is weird."

"I don't know, but have you ever heard of someone taking advantage of Boba Fett and stealing his ship?"

He turned around to leave the bridge when Eriana grabbed Jacen by the sleeve. "This could be some kind of trick, Jacen. Be careful."

"I know," Jacen said. "Come with me?"

"In a second," Eriana said. She turned to the man who was at the tactical display with them. "Captain Arillian, please transmit the authent code to the sensor buoy and request clearance for the _Solo Quest, Squawking Mynock _and_ Jade Shadow_ to Corellia. Signal General Cooper and tell him to keep the fleet on full alert while I proceed to Corellia with Jacen. We don't want to scare them with all our fleet showing up on their doorstep."

Captain Arillian nodded and began issuing orders, giving Eriana and Jacen the chance to leave the bridge. Eriana followed Jacen, running to keep up with his pace until they reached the nearest lift. They took it down ten levels, all the while Jacen was pacing impatiently. They finally reached deck twelve and Jacen ran out of the lift when the doors were just wide enough for him to fit through. Eriana matched his pace to the designated airlock where several technicians were already waiting. After the technicians cleared that there were no evident explosives, Eriana dismissed them. Jacen paused at the door, his hand hovering beside the activation button.

"Eriana, we've always been there to protect each other from ourselves," Jacen said, eyes fixed on the door release. "I hope this isn't one of those times that I'll need you, but something feels wrong here."

Eriana put her left hand on his shoulder while removing her lightsaber from the right holster strapped to her leg. "Don't worry, I'm here for you."

Jacen pressed the button and the door slid open. They both stepped into the airlock and continued into the eerily empty ship. They proceeded from room to room, finding evidence that two people had been living in the ship, but no clues as to who they were. As they entered the bridge, a hologram of Han Solo appeared in the middle of the room.

"Hey kid," the hologram of Han said. In shock, Jacen stepped backwards into Eriana, but she grabbed him by his shoulders to steady him. "I'm sure you're surprised to see me. I know you think I'm dead, but if you're seeing this, then I really am."

"When would he have made time to make this?" Eriana whispered, but Jacen just shook his head in response.

"Fett made me an offer in the hospital," Han continued. "He came across some intel on the Bogan home world and we knew, to protect the people we loved, we had to take it out. He faked my death and brought me to some fancy doctor who patched up my head, and we set out to deliver a crippling blow. We programmed the ship to head back to Corellia and look for you if our mission succeeded, so if you're seeing this, you can rest assured that the Bogans are going to be pretty pissed off because we destroyed their homeworld and shipyard."

Jacen took a couple of tentative steps forward, reaching out toward the hologram of his dad.

"You didn't have to," Jacen whispered.

"Fett and I are both dying," Han continued, oblivious to his son's teary-eyed response. "His cloned biology is degenerating, and the operation I got is unstable. We knew we had one chance to help you all out, and only a few weeks to live, so we took it.

"Jacen, Fett said the ship is yours," Han continued. "But if you ever run across a girl named Ailyn Vel, please give it to her. Tell her it's a gift from her dad."

Eriana stepped forward and took Jacen's hand in hers, squeezing it to give him some comfort, knowing full well that Han's last words to his family were coming up.

"Jaina, Jacen, and Anakin, you know I love you and will always be proud of you," Han said, a tear running down his holographic cheek. "Luke, keep flyin', kid. And Leia, you'll always be my princess. May the Force, and the family, be with you all, always."

With a lopsided grin, the image of Han Solo faded to darkness.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Erinn entered Jaina's office timidly, unsure which side of her Master she would run into – the usual relatively calm Master Solo, or the angry Admiral that broke her Commander's nose and lashed out with the Force. Based on the half-empty bottles of whiskey and brandy on her desk, the messy office, and the melancholic music that Jaina was badly singing along to, Erinn suspected she was going to see a very different side of her Jedi Master.

"Master Solo?"

Jaina was singing along to a very sad sounding song. She stopped to take another sip of the amber fluid in the glass before continuing. She seemed oblivious to Erinn's entrance, merely staring out at the stars looking back at her through the window while softly singing along.

"Master Solo?"

As the song continued playing Jaina finally turned to face Erinn. She clumsily grabbed another glass, filled it with some brandy that sloshed over onto the desk, and shoved the glass toward her, again spilling some out.

"To Dad," Jaina said, holding up her glass expectantly.

Unsure how to approach the situation, but scared about offending her master, Erinn sat down, picked up the glass of alcohol and held it up.

Jaina knocked back the entire shot and Erinn followed suit, not entirely sure about the protocol on toasts. The alcohol burned all the way down, and Erinn sneezed and coughed against the offending liquid.

"Good stuff, eh?" Jaina smirked and grabbed the bottle.

After Erinn put the glass back on the desk, Jaina filled them both back up and picked up her glass.

"I heard what happened," Erinn said. She tentatively picked up the glass, but did not drink from it.

"Sure the whole fleet knows," Jaina muttered and held up her glass. "To…somethin' impor'nt."

She brought the glass to her mouth too quickly and fumbled it, dumping the contents on her lap.

"Oh, shavit," Jaina said, jumping to her feet and swaying on the spot. She kicked off her boots and pulled her pants off. Erinn stared in shocked disbelief as Jaina looked at the soaked pants and dropped them to the floor. Jaina sat back down and, rather than filling her glass she grabbed the bottle of whiskey. She held it up while relying on the desk for stability.

"Do da fleet!" Jaina slurred and chugged a few gulps from the bottle. Erinn took a polite sip to match. She felt the alcohol from the first shot getting to her head, making her a little more relaxed and fuzzy.

"I don' know wha' her problem is," Jaina said, answering the unspoken question that Erinn had been thinking. "I fixed it. Her schedule sucked, so I fixed it. Wazzn't dat a good 'dea?"

"Sure," Erinn said, thinking it safer to agree with Jaina than not. She took another sip from the alcohol. "I mean, we need to defend the fleet properly, right?"

"'zactly!" Jaina exclaimed and took another swig from her bottle. "You're good kid, Erica."

"Erinn," she corrected absentmindedly.

"That's a pretty name," Jaina said thoughtfully. "Did you change it?"

"Not in seventeen years," Erinn said. "Still 'Erinn,' Master Solo."

"Call me 'Jaina'," she took another drink. "My friends do."

"But you're my Jedi Master."

Jaina waved the bottle as if she could dismiss her apprentice's inhibitions. She stood up and stumbled towards Erinn.

"C'mon," Jaina pulled her apprentice to her feet and put an arm around her shoulders, leaning heavily on the younger woman for support. She began walking toward the door, pulling Erinn along. "Let's tell e'ryon' we're friends."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Erinn said apprehensively and tried to resist, but Jaina hit the button beside the door with the Force.

The doors opened and Jaina shouted out. "Hey, this my friend Erica!"

"Admiral!" Captain Pearl exclaimed at the sight of seeing the uncomfortable teenager supporting her drunk, pants-less Jedi Master inside the office.

Jaina found some coordination and ran out to the Captain and gave him a big hug. "I wanna do fireworks."

She gestured wildly to the main viewport and waved her arms in sweeping motions.

"Big 'splosions! Fire torpedoes! Make the sky pretty!"

Captain Pearl merely turned back to his console and pressed a button. "Security to the bridge!"

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"She did _what_?"

Despite a long career of military service which included serving with the mostly-eccentric members of Rogue and Wraith Squadrons, Wedge Antillies had finally found himself completely dumbfounded by the actions of someone under his command. He looked from the image of Captain Pearl hovering above his desk to Leia, who was sitting across from him, shaking her head at the description of her daughter's actions.

"She…"

"I heard you the first time, Captain Pearl," Wedge said. "I just don't want to believe it."

"There was the earlier incident…"

"Which I vividly remember."

"Yes, sir. She's been screaming 'mutiny' since the security team apprehended her. I have her in the brig now."

"Good," Wedge said. "Keep her there. You did the right thing, Captain. I'll send someone over to deal with her."

"Understood," Captain Pearl nodded and moved to cut the connection before pausing. "Shall I return her pants to her, Admiral?"

Wedge stared in disbelief as the older man's moustache twitched up on one corner, and terminated the connection from his end.

"I thought she'd be better at this," Leia said as a way of apology. "I thought the responsibility would…"

"I should be apologizing to you, Leia." Wedge shook his head. "It's my responsibility, not hers. I shouldn't have offered her a command after she attacked Danni."

Leia looked away from her old friend and wiped a tear from her eye.

"Jaina was always closer to Han than Jacen was," Leia admitted. "It hasn't been easy on any of us…"

Wedge gave her a moment of silence so she could wipe another tear from each eye before continuing.

"I'll have to remove her from command," Wedge said softly. "I know the fifth fleet is largely inconsequential from a combat perspective, but…"

"We should contact Kenth Hamner." Leia interrupted his attempt to justify his decision to her. "She'll need to be suspended as a Jedi Master as well."

Wedge's eyebrows shot up, almost disappearing into his hair line. "Isn't that a little excessive?"

"She gave alcohol to a minor under her legal guardianship."

Wedge shook his head and spun his chair around to look out the window behind his desk. Through the transparisteel he could see the outline of one of the shipyards performing a refit on a Star Destroyer. It took him a moment to realize that that was the same shipyard that had been hacked by Jaina's technicians.

"It's going to destroy her. She needs help, and our resources are stretched thin. Anyone with any sort of psychology education is booked solid for the next month."

"She's in the brig," Leia said. "She can't hurt anyone there. We'll keep her locked up for a few days and let her cool down a bit. Once she's had time to think about what she did we'll see what we can do with her."

Wedge shook his head and tossed the datapad with Captain Pearl's report on his desk where it bounced and slid over a metre before stopping. He reached over and grabbed another datapad. He accessed the information on it for several moments before holding it out to Leia. Rather than reach over his massive desk to take it, Leia used the Force to call it to her hand.

"I think we should deploy Trista and Taryn Zel's fleet to Corellia," Wedge said. "I think the Hapan ships combined with the Mark III ISDs with super lasers will augment the Corellian Defense Force well."

"Agreed," Leia said after looking over the tactical analysis on the datapad. "How long will it take for them to get there?"

"You know the answer as well as I do, Leia," Wedge said sadly.

"I know," Leia said with a grimace. "Too late."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Jacen walked through the halls of the _Hunter IV_ rather obliviously; half staring at a datacard in his hands while half using the Force to make sure he did not walk into anyone. He wandered aimlessly until he realized that he was standing in front of his Aunt and Uncle's quarters. Part of him knew he wanted to end up there, and he figured the Force took care of the rest. He pushed the call button and felt his uncle's presence gesture for him to enter the room. He used his Vornskr override code on the door and entered.

"Uncle Luke?" Jacen called out to the dark room.

"Over here," Luke's voice came from the right. Jacen followed it and the lights came on in the next section of the room. Jacen found his uncle sitting in his hover chair with a datapad in hand, deactivating a small reading light attached to the chair.

"I didn't get the chance to thank you," Luke said.

"You've done the same for me a dozen times," Jacen said and sat on the chair closest to his uncle. "About time I started returning the favours."

Luke shrugged and shook his head. "What brings you by? Is it Ami?"

"Ah, no," Jacen said. Somehow he had entirely forgotten about the issue of Ami's lineage, but the bitter tone of his uncle's voice threw him off. "I...we...umm... Boba Fett's ship was waiting for us when we came out of hyperspace. When we boarded it, we...um...we found a message."

Jacen held up the data card which held a copy of his dad's final words to the family. His hand started to shake and he quickly pulled it back to caress the data card with both hands so he wouldn't drop it.

"It's from Dad. I don't really know if everyone's ready to see it."

"Why would you say that?"

"Because...we just buried him," Jacen felt tears welling up in his eyes and blinked them away. "If everyone knew he was still alive and went on a suicide mission without coming to see us...Mom's still grieving, Jaina's not acting herself..."

Luke held out a hand and Jacen placed the data card into it with steadier hands than he expected. Luke plugged it into his datapad and watched the holorecording. When it finished, he removed the data card and sat in silence for a minute before speaking.

"I'll leave this one up to you," Luke finally said, handing the card back to Jacen. "I have enough of my own problems. But thank you for sharing."

Luke picked up his data pad again in an unspoken gesture that he wanted to be left alone, and Jacen barely caught a glimpse at the title of what he was reading. _Royal Succession of Naboo._

Jacen stood up and crossed the room, hesitating at the half wall that divided the two main sections of the quarters. He could sense his aunt nowhere near them.

"Ami seems like a good kid," Jacen said. "Well, for someone a year younger than me. I hope she sticks around."

Luke looked up at Jacen with a measure of annoyance but remained silent.

"What I'm saying is that we've lost a lot," Jacen said, holding up the data card. "It doesn't seem too often that we make gains in our family."

After a momentary staring contest, Jacen finally left his uncle's quarters and began walking through the halls. This time he had a destination in mind. He thought that maybe his uncle would give him some valuable insight or direction, like he had so many times in the past, but this time all he found was a bitter man pouting in a dark room.

A few minutes of walking at his brisk pace, Jacen arrived at the hanger bay that was occupied by the _Jade Shadow. _He found his aunt replacing a directional lighting panel on the port side of the ship and walked right up to her.

"I take it the introduction didn't go well," Jacen said without preamble.

Mara looked over her shoulder and made a throaty noise somewhere between a growl and a groan. "He wasn't happy."

"I just talked to him," Jacen said and settled with his back against the cool grey hull of the _Shadow_. "He isn't himself."

"Why do you think I'm _here_, and not _there_?" Mara snapped. She bit her lip and took a deep breath, slowly letting it out. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't take this out on you. I'm the idiot. I'm the _fraking idiot_ who didn't tell my own husband about hiding his daughter for thirty years."

"I take it he didn't like her?"

"He left before she could say two words," Mara said. "One glance at her and he was out the door. Even when I was trying to kill him he wasn't that angry with me! And you know what she did? She ran away, like she always does. It's bad enough she thought _one_ parent hated her, but for him to react like _that_..."

"Now she hates both of you," Jacen finished.

"Yeah, thanks for that Captain Obvious," Mara snapped bitterly. She hopped up onto the wing and sat down, letting her feet dangle about a metre from the ground. "Sorry, you didn't deserve that. He didn't send you here to talk to me, did he? He was upset enough after he found out I joined the Vornskrs, but this...he won't even look at me."

"No, he didn't send me," Jacen assured her. "I...here. Watch this holovid. I think you answered my question for me."

Mara yanked the proffered card from his hand and pulled a data pad from the floor of the hanger bay to her with the Force. After watching it, she tossed the data card back to him.

"That's so like him," Mara said, her frosty demeanor melting for a brief moment. When she looked back at Jacen, her eyes were like ice again. "Stop running around this ship like a fraking idiot and send it to your family. You'll just make things worse if you don't."

Jacen hopped up onto the wing beside her and pulled her into a hug.

"Thanks, Aunt Mara. Do you want me to talk to Ami for you?"

"Sure," Mara said softly and squeezed him a bit tighter. "I don't care if she hates me. Just don't let her do what she did to me to Luke. He doesn't deserve it."

"_Jacen?_" Eriana's voice came from Jacen's pocket. He let go of his aunt and drew his communicator from his belt.

"Go ahead, Eriana."

"_We just got clearance to proceed to Corellia," _Eriana said. _"Launch time is in fifteen minutes and we have a two minute window. Can you meet me at the _Solo Quest?_"_

"I'll be right there," Jacen said. "I'll let Ben and Mara know to get ready for the jump."

"_Thanks_."

Jacen turned the device off and turned to his aunt. "Thanks, again."

"You, too," Mara said. "Get to your ship. I can't wait to get out of here."


	23. Assault

Onimi: I'm sure I've said this before, but why can't a Jedi go through depression without becoming Sith? That's all I'm doing...putting a more down-to-earth spin on a Jedi dealing with her emotions instead of the stereotypical archetype among Force users. In reality, people do get drunk and do stupid sh...tuff when they're in an emotionally weakened state. She's in for a rough go. Honestly, I loved writing the communication between Wedge and Pearl. "Shall I return her pants to her, Admiral?" Probably my favourite from this entire story ;)

My apologies if I may have made some spelling mistakes in earlier chapters around Centerpoint station. Canadians spell it "centre," and that's somewhat engrained in my finger muscle memory when typing. Lightsaber is about the only one I use the American spelling for automatically.

Chapter 21 - Assault

In an arrowhead formation with the _Solo Quest_ in front, the _Squawking Mynock_ and the _Jade Shadow_ dropped out of hyperspace in orbit around Corellia moments before the Centerpoint station gravity well powered back up.

And a few hundred kilometres away, so did an _Obsidian_-class destroyer flanked by three hundred warships.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

A metallic tapping noise woke Jaina from her sleep on the strange hard bed and it took her a moment to remember where she was. With her head still pounding from the drinking the night before, she looked over to see her mother and Erinn standing outside the bars of the brig she had been thrown into. Past them she could see that the omnipresent guard had left the room. Erinn was not making eye contact with her, looking away rather embarrassedly, but her mother's gaze could have melted durasteel.

"Before you claim otherwise," Leia said in a voice that matched her harsh glare. "A 'mutiny' generally reserved for actions by a ship's crew that results in the ship being taken away from the highest authority, not returned to said authority."

Jaina rolled over on the hard bed and turned toward the wall, away from her visitors.

"On the authority of Grand Admiral Wedge Antilles," Leia read from the datapad in her hand. "Pertaining to the charges of an over-extension of authority with regard to the utilization of fleet assets, assault of a subordinate officer, implementation of improper maintenance protocols that endangered the life of fleet personnel, and issuance of orders whilst under the influence of, and I quote from the official report from your former XO, 'enough alcohol to make (you) forget to wear pants to the bridge,' I hereby strip you of all rank and privilege in Jedi Coalition Fleet Command and sentence you to a one-week period in the brig pending a review of your actions."

"I am so frakin' hung over," Jaina groaned. "Go 'way."

"Furthermore, on the authority of Kenth Hamner, Acting Grand Jedi Master," Leia continued. "Due to behaviour unfitting of a Jedi Master, including public intoxication and trafficking alcohol to a minor..."

"She's not a minor on Tattoine..." Jaina muttered.

"...You are hereby suspended as a member of the Jedi Order..."

"Whatever is left of it," Jaina interjected.

"...your apprentice will be reassigned..."

"Can I go back to sleep now?"

"...and your lightsaber destroyed."

"What?!" Jaina shouted. She rolled off the bed and crashed to the floor tangled up in the blanket. After a few seconds of fighting her way out of her blanket in a post-drunken stupor, she finally pulled herself standing in front of her mom and former apprentice, grabbing the bars for support. "You can't destroy my lightsaber. Mom, it's the only thing I have left from Yavin IV and being a Jedi Knight and..."

Tears began flowing down Jaina's face as she looked at her mother's cold stare. She finally noticed her lightsaber hilt hanging off her mom's belt opposite her own and reached toward it, but her arm fell half a metre short. "...it's who I am...it's…Anakin...Dad...you can't..."

"I was just checking if you were listening," Leia said. She unhooked her daughter's lightsaber and tossed it between the bars where it clattered and rolled to a halt against the wall under the bed. "Erinn, you have a shuttle to catch. Please learn this lesson now so you don't have to go through this yourself."

As Leia and Erinn left the room, Jaina's teary eyes made contact with her former apprentice's eyes one last time. The door slammed shut and Jaina slumped to the floor, resting against the bars. After a moment she crawled over to where her lightsaber hilt was lying against the wall under the bed. She picked it up and caressed the hilt, looking it over like a long lost friend. She ran a finger over the gold ring just below the emitter and traced it down the body to the relatively high activation buttons modelled after an X-wing control stick, the gently curved choke in the middle, and the battery pack cylinder at the bottom where she had engraved her fallen brother and father's names. She had fought hundreds of opponents, slayed some of the worst Yuuzhan Vong warriors, and spent hours and hours of her life fine tuning it to be the perfect reflection of herself. She finally saw a scratch near the pommel that, despite all the weathering and abuse the hilt had taken over its eighteen year life, stood out like none of the others. It was new and shiny from some of the paint and tarnished metal being scratched away by the checkerboard deck plating of the brig floor. It took her a few moments of staring at it to realize that her mom had done it when she tossed it into the cell, but when she came to that realization, she was not angry.

Jaina distantly understood that she was just as banged up.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The green column of energy that obliterated the primary Golan VI defense platform hovering above Corella was Jacen's first clue that intruders had entered the system.

"What the...?" Jacen exclaimed. Together he and Eriana traced the beam of light back to its origin across their view port and saw the Bogan fleet.

"They must have been waiting at the edge of the interdictor field for it to drop," Eriana said. With deft ease of having spent years as Jacen's co-pilot on the _Solo Quest_, they worked together to power the defense systems, charge the gun batteries, and activate the communication system on the secure frequency in rapid succession. "Mara, Lanos, break toward the Corellian defense fleet. We need to get them to turn off Centrepoint's gravity well so the Vornskr fleet can move in."

"_Are you sure that's a good idea_?" Mara asked, but both ships turned and followed the _Solo Quest_ toward Corellia.

"I've got seven hundred and fifty ships outside the gravity well that are too small for them to target with the superlaser," Eriana said. "That fleet has the combined firepower of over four hundred Imperial Star Destroyers and a hundred times the manoeuvrability. We're going to need that firepower if we're going to fight back, and my ships can't jump in with that gravity well up."

"We're still no match for that Obsidian," Jacen said off air. "And I don't know if a pirate fleet will want to risk their lives like this."

"We can't lose Corellia," Eriana shot back. "I'll negotiate with Corellia for salvage rights after the battle. That should keep everyone happy."

"_Ship transmitting ident_ Solo Quest, _please acknowledge_," a voice came across the open air. "_This is Master Sergeant Hariman of the Corellian Defense Force. We have a situation at hand and request you steer clear of the engagement area."_

"Sergeant Hariman, this is Jedi Master Jacen Solo aboard the _Solo Quest_," Jacen replied. "I have two allied ships with me willing to join your forces. I need to speak to your superior immediately to discuss the attacking fleet. I have special knowledge and insight about their tactics."

A few moments of tense silence passed as the small formation of freighters traveled toward the amassing Corellian Defense fleet.

"_Jedi _Knight_ Solo, please engage encryption code JK-12 on frequency 842_," a familiar voice came across the line.

Jacen passed Eriana a box of encryption cards and she selected the one labelled JK-12, insert it into the communication system and activated the encryption matrix.

"JK-12 online," Jacen acknowledged. "Corran, that you?"

"_That's Admiral Horn to you, kid_," Corran replied. "_We'll discuss your choice of titles with the Council at a later date. What's your status?_"

"What council?" Jacen muttered, but a smack on his arm from Eriana silenced him.

"Corran, this is Eriana. I've got seven hundred and fifty Black Vornskr attack ships outside the interdiction field that can help us. Can you drop the interdiction field?"

Another beam of light streamed away from the Bogan fleet, this time aimed at Centerpoint Station. It pierced through the ancient hull and punched a hole through the other side before terminating, but the gravity well remained active.

"_Shavit_!" Corran shouted. "_Did you see that?_"

"_Looks like the Obsidian is heading toward Centerpoint while the rest of the fleet is heading toward you, Admiral._" Lanos's voice intruded on the secure line. Jacen and Eriana exchanged confused glances, both trying to figure out how the resourceful Mandalorian crew obtained the Jedi encryption codes. "_Recommend scrambling your ships to intercept."_

The line went dead for a few tense moments while Corran began issuing orders to the defense fleet. The formation of the _Solo Quest_, _Jade Shadow,_ and _Squawking Mynock_ finally reached the defense fleet and waited next to one of the larger ships, a new three-hundred metre _Dragon_-class attack ship that had been designed by Corran, Luke and Han mere months ago based on the _Pirhana_-class warship that Admiral Pellaeon, Lowie and Danni Quee had created.

"We need to assault the ship," Eriana broke the silence. Jacen turned to look at her. "You and me. We'll use the cloak to sneak in, sabotage the power generators, and get out. The fleet can take care of the rest. As long as it is focused on Centerpoint it won't be a threat to the fleet."

"Just where I want to go," Jacen said. "Back onto one of those ships."

"Do you have a better idea?"

"None that will work," Jacen admitted. He pressed the PTT button on his control stick. "Corran, Mara, Lanos; this is Jacen. Eriana and I are going to infiltrate the _Obsidian_ class destroyer and see if we can loosen up their defenses a bit. You focus on the fleet."

"_Jacen, we can't lose Centrepoint station_," Corran said. "_We need to distract the _Obsidian."

"The only way you're going to do that is if you put a more valuable target in its sight," Jacen said. "And the only thing more valuable than that is something with a superlaser in it. Don't know about you, but I don't see any Death Stars or Darksabers orbiting around Corellia. We need to board the ship and disable it from the inside. It's the only way we'll stop it."

"_Want help?"_ Lanos's gruff voice asked.

"Negative," Jacen responded and throttled up, breaking formation toward the giant ship in the distance. "This is one of those bad ideas that I don't want anyone else to be dragged into."

"Lanos, I'm transferring command of Cooper's fleet to you until I return," Eriana said and rattled off a command code. "Trust his strategy, but keep an eye on him. He can be brilliant when he wants to be. HK-47 is following him like a shadow to make sure he follows orders. That code will be recognized by HK-47, so don't hesitate to use him if you have to."

As the _Solo Quest_ pulled away from the Corellian defense fleet, Eriana switched to the private frequency for the Black Vornskr command lines and engaged the cloaking field. Through the tell-tale shimmer of the field, they watched in an eerie silence as the _Obsidian_ class ship punched another hole through Centerpoint station.

"There must not be anything solid to hit," Jacen remarked, recalling the design of Centerpoint station. The middle was largely empty, occupied by a miniature star and an atmosphere that clung to the inside wall.

"They must be firing blind hoping to hit the gravity well generator," Eriana said. She consulted the controls. "We'll be close enough to dock in under five minutes. EV?"

"Yeah," Jacen said. "You okay to pilot while I suit up?"

"Of course," Eriana said and switched the controls to her side of the cockpit. Already wearing her infamous Bha'lir armour, she was ready for combat. She looked up at him as he stood and smiled. "Feels good, just the two of us against the galaxy again."

Jacen paused at the door on his way out. "Things have changed so much since then. I miss this."

"Your fault. Getting married…having kids…"

Jacen rolled his eyes and walked away. By the time Jacen returned wearing his Mandalorian armour that had been re-painted to resemble Jedi robes, Eriana was easing the ship through the Obsidian's overlapped shield array near the hanger deck.

"I found an empty hanger bay that is decompressed," Eriana said. "There are dozens of them all along this side of the hull. We should be able to sneak into the ship from one of them easily."

"Good idea," Jacen said and sat in the pilot's chair. He adjusted the seat backwards to accommodate for the added bulk of the suit of armour and cued to Heads-Up-Display to interact with his helmet. "I spent some time over the last couple days going over the schematics that HK-47 pulled on the last ship we were on. There are eight separate hypermatter reactors spaced evenly down the middle of the ship. We'll probably have to take at least four of them out to deplete their shields enough for our fleet to put a dent in them and prevent them from using the superlaser. There are about fifty shield generators around the hull, so it'll be easier to go after the main reactors."

Eriana eased the ship into the desolate hanger bay of her choosing and powered down the ship.

"I'll leave the cloak on and the engines primed," Eriana said. "You ready for this?"

"Nope," Jacen said and flicked the last switch on the power down sequence. "But when are we ever?"

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Mara ran into the command centre of Corran's Corellian Dreadnaught and stopped just beside the other Jedi Master outside the range of the holocam that he was shouting into.

"Aidel, by the Force, we need those ships! Drop the interdiction field!"

"_Corran, I'm getting enough flak from my opposition right now about us disabling Centerpoint's offensive capability, not to mention distrust about the Jedi endangering our safe haven by deactivating the field! Use our fleet. We're mobilizing assets from Selonia, Drall, Talus and Tralus, but it will take time at subspace._"

"Well at this rate the interdiction field will be down soon anyway!" Corran shouted back and terminated the connection.

"Political problems?" Mara asked with a smirk.

"Not helping, Jade," Corran barked and retreated toward the tactical display in the centre of the room. Mara joined him and looked at the holographic images of the ships appearing across the battlefield. After a few moments of assessing the fleet capabilities, Mara shook her head.

"This is not good."

"What was your first clue?" Corran snapped. He took a deep breath and let it out. "Sorry. I've got gunships and freighters coming out of my ears, which are great against fighters, but I only have twenty real capital ships against their three hundred."

"And a hundred _Dragons_," Mara pointed to the cluster of ships that Corran had helped design. "And some Stridents. You also outnumber them on fighters."

"Fat lot that'll do for us," Corran said and looked up at the three officers standing across the holodisplay from him awaiting his orders. "Okay, here's what we're doing: have the dreadnaughts and stridents pull back to flank our five remaining Golans and use the tractor beams to start dragging those platforms toward the enemy fleet. Set up the dragons, corvettes and gunships in a bomber screen five hundred kilometres out, and send in the attack fighters and A-10 interceptors to engage. Mara, I want you to lead fighter group Echo. We'll keep the Shriek bombers and the freighters in reserve behind the fighter screen until the capital ships get closer."

As the three officers began issuing Corran's orders, Mara and Corran's eyes met. She nodded, understanding the unspoken acknowledgement of impending doom, and took off at a run back to her ship.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"_Jedi_."

Zara turned her head to look at Wyyrlok. Deep within the _Tormentor_, she had been watching as the battle progressed until the growled name of their enemies distracted her. The Corellian defense fleet was proving more capable than they had initially expected, so the presence of Jedi was not entirely impossible. The fleet's goal was to distract the Corellians long enough for the _Tormentor_ to disable or destroy Centrepoint and make it possible for them to return and finish off Corellia if necessary. _Her_ goal was to give Jacen one fewer place to hide while she tracked him down.

"Of course there are Jedi here," Zara sneered back. "Where else would they cower in fear from us if not behind a gravity well generator?"

"No," Wyyrlok said and pointed to one of the displays in front of him. "A cloaked ship triggered an alarm in one of the empty hanger bays. Nobody but a Jedi would be reckless enough to board one of our ships."

"Can you image the ship?" Zara asked and crossed the bridge to join him at the console. She reached past him and triggered the infrared sensors to reveal the distinctive rough outline of a YT-2400 frigate.

"It could be any commando group," Zara said. "That is a Corellian design. There are thousands of those in this sector."

"Remain here while I deal with this," Wyyrlok ordered her. "Continue the attack on Centerpoint."

Wyyrlok left the bridge and Zara watched as his back disappeared behind the doors. She glanced back at the YT-2400 outline on the display and squinted.

_Is that you, Jacen?_ Zara asked herself. She switched off the display and took a quick look around the bridge. She found the captain and ordered him to continue the attack on Centerpoint before marching off the bridge.


	24. Infiltration

Chapter 22 - Infiltration

The _Jade Shadow_ corkscrewed through a formation of Corellian gunships at full throttle startling both the commander of the formation and Ben Skywalker, but Mara Jade merely flew on with a demeanor somewhere close to barely controlled anger.

"Echo group," Mara announced to the fighter group she had been assigned. "Jade reporting in. Form up on my flanks and announce readiness.

"Ben, keep track of the squadrons and orders from Corran."

Ben scrambled to look up the sensor pattern of the ships forming up around the _Jade Shadow_ and check off in his mind their status as the six squadron leaders reported readiness. Each squadron report was identical, all twelve fighters ready for combat, and Mara redirected them into a conical pattern centred on the _Jade Shadow_ and _Squawking Mynock_ as they raced toward the enemy fleet at top combat speed.

"Prep torpedoes or missiles for the first volley," Mara ordered. "Lock a target, fire, lock and fire. Get off as many as you can before we close to laser range. Set shields to double front for the first pass."

Ben looked over the display before him and a cold shock went through his heart.

"Mom, there won't be room to maneuver with that much debris," Ben blurt out with a panic. "Our formation is too tight!"

At fourteen kilometres from target, pink and blue flares of projectiles launched from the fighters around them streaming toward the enemy formations. Ben watched in a mixture of awe and horror as the light of over two hundred torpedoes filled the sky, and the distance indicator rapidly dropped by the second.

"Mom!"

Mara glanced back at Ben with an irritated look but turned her attention back to the battle without a word. When the first volley of torpedoes landed on target, she finally clicked her PTT button.

"Echo, break into flights of four and engage at will. Two on the bombers, two on their backs. _Mynock_, lock lasers and follow me through."

As Echo group broke into their formations and the Bogan ships began scrambling from the incoming torpedoes, Mara switched to her linked quad cannons and began firing at the enemy fighters, maintaining her dead run toward the middle of the scattering formation with the _Squawking Mynock_ hot on her tail. Together they blasted enemy ships apart using the confusion among the enemy ranks to their advantage. As the debris field grew, Mara finally launched a pair of torpedoes that exploded in the middle of the debris, creating a path for her and the _Mynock_ to pass through.

"How many did we get?" Mara asked, already spinning the ship around in a tight loop in pursuit of a pair of interceptors that were harassing one of her squadron leaders.

"About a hundred and fifty and counting," Ben said as the computer calculated the battle stats faster than he could keep track of. He looked at another figure and blanched. "We lost two dozen fighters."

"Good kill ratio," Mara muttered, barely loud enough for Ben to hear. The ship twisted through another corkscrewed evasion of enemy fire and the linked quad cannons kept firing in unison as they blasted more enemy fighters apart. "Tell them to reform into four squadrons. Send squad one and two to make their first pass on those two Star Destroyers that are nicely lined up, and have squads three and four cover their backs. Signal Lanos to join us on support."

Ben issued the orders and watched as the small figures of the ships fell into positon on his display screen, half wondering if his mom knew what she was doing. These weren't just pieces on a game board – these were people!

"Squadrons have reformed," Ben reported. "One and Two are commencing their attacks."

Ben watched as another beam of light shot out from the Obsidian towards Centerpoint station and silently wished that the Force was with them.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The Mandalorian invention of a cloaking device that did not disrupt the user's field of vision was a welcome addition to both the ships and the traditional armour of the warrior people. Jacen, in his time infiltrating the Mandalorian clan while searching for his aunt and uncle and since, had been able to acquire a couple of such devices – one for his ship, a personal one for his armour, and a spare personal unit. The radiation that allowed the field to work was typically quite dangerous to exposed living tissue, which allowed the Mandalorians a level of assurance that their technology would not be abused by other species – their suits of armour completely shielded the user from the harmful effects of most forms of radiation. Using modifications based on the Mandalorian armour, Eriana had spent the last year adjusting the design of her own Jensaarai armour suit to protect her against the radiation so she could finally use Jacen's spare cloak.

"This is so neat," Eriana said for what Jacen guessed was the fifteenth time since they had begun their infiltration. As they walked past crew members of the Bogan ship, nobody seemed cognisant of two armoured intruders in their midst.

"Want to see something really funny?" Jacen finally asked. Knowing their armour was sound proof and that acoustic dampers prevented the sounds of their footsteps from travelling, he was not worried about being heard. He sped up slightly to walk behind two Rodians who were having an animated conversation and flicked one of their ears with his finger.

"Hey!" the Rodian shouted. "What was that for?"

"What was what for?" the other Rodian demanded. "I did nothing."

"Well done," Eriana said with a laugh as the two Rodians bickered and moved along. "I need to use this thing more often."

"Think of all the pranks you could pull while invisible," Jacen said. "It really opens up the possibilities."

They finally reached the third power reactor and waited for the hall to temporarily clear of passing crew members before Jacen placed a hand on the control panel and concentrated. He punched in the keys as guided by the Force, and the door slid open. Together they entered the expansive room that encircled the kilometre long reactor and avoided bumping into the white-robed technicians monitoring the power flow at consoles around the room. Jacen decoupled an explosive pack from his armour sleeve, primed it, and used the Force to elevate it up to the top of the narrow mid-point of the reactor situated between two connected spheres. He gently pushed the explosive into place so the adhesive would hold, then turned his attention to Eriana.

Her glowing form, as highlighted by the same-polarization cloaking field as his own, was crouched under the main power distribution console planting an explosive, when a pair of technicians walked right up to her, trapping her between their legs.

"Here's that flutter I was talking about," one of the technicians said, pointing to the console directly above Eriana. "Look at the power draw for the port sensor array. It's way above the starboard."

"Get out of there," Jacen hissed. "They're going to bump into you."

He watched as she gently closed the console and crawled forward slightly as the second technician stepped right into her path.

"I can't move," Eriana whispered, despite her soundproof helmet preventing her from being heard by anyone but Jacen.

"Did you notice this?" the second technician asked, pointing to another console, and narrowly avoiding hitting her helmet with his shin. "They're running a diagnosis on the fleet movements on the starboard side."

"Yes, but the variances are _still_ out of line."

"Well, what do you want _me_ to do about it?" Jacen asked.

"Mind trick them," Eriana snapped.

"These guys are way too focused on their work. Hang on. I have an idea."

Jacen activated the outside speaker with the flick of his tongue and took a step closer to the two technicians so he was almost touching them.

"I want to drink your blood," Jacen whispered and took a couple steps back to watch.

"_What did you say_?" Both technicians exclaimed at the same time, jumping back from each other. Eriana quickly crawled out between the space between them and rose to her feet as the two technicians began to push each other around.

"Nice distraction," Eriana said. "Creepy, but it worked. One more reactor to go."

"Let's make it quick."

Together they followed another technician out of the reactor control room and found a tram to speed them through the ship. About two kilometres later they debarked from the tram and made their way to the next reactor control room in line. This time the hallway was deserted, so they immediately opened the door to find a tattooed Chagrian and three other Bogan warriors, each holding two lightsaber hilts.

"There be _Jedi_ here," the Chagrian said and eight lightsabers were lit.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"Sir, the interdictor field has dropped."

General Cooper looked up at the technician who spoke and over to his new mechanical shadow, a droid he suspected was in fact an assassin droid.

"Looks like your owner is coming back sooner than expected," Cooper said to the droid. He turned his attention to his technicians scattered around the bridge of his flagship, the Pirhana-Class ship known simply as _Flash_. "Any signal from our leader."

"Coming in now," the communication's tech said. The woman turned around with her eyes wide. "Sir! Corellia is under attack! We're receiving orders with our leader's command code to assist."

_What _is_ she up to?_ Cooper asked himself, stroking his goatee. It took him a moment in his thoughts to realise that HK-47 had moved to his side, poking him in the back with a blaster rifle.

"I know, droid," Cooper said irritably. "Perform a long-range scan. What is the status?"

Moments ticked by in silence as the sensor team analysed their reports, feeding what Cooper wanted into the tactical display in front of him. He saw a sizeable Bogan fleet advancing on a much smaller Corellian fleet and began organizing his strategy.

"Communications: indicate to the fleet strategy style nine," Cooper said. "Warm up the battle meld computers and link all ships together. Full military encryption over subspace, and all weapons and shields hot. Signal the _Hunter IV_ to stay here and gather intelligence on enemy fleet movements during the assault."

The technicians went to work relaying the orders and HK-47 took another step closer to the admiral.

"Warning: Fight well, meatbag," HK-47 said. "Or I'll follow _my_ orders."

Cooper looked at the droid with a moment's hesitation until the communications officer spoke up.

"Fleet reporting ready, sir."

"Plot a jump right in the middle of their fleet," Cooper said dangerously. "Let's see what those battle meld computers can do."

As one, the entire group of over seven hundred ships jumped into hyperspace for the half minute it took to drop them right in the middle of the enemy formation. Immediately all of the Black Vornskr ships opened fire, their plasma energy weapons ripping through the shields of over a hundred enemy ships at once and gutting them with the slower proton torpedoes.

Under Cooper's orders, each of the ten flights of seventy five ships broke off; some jumping to hyperspace in perfect unison with the help of the battle meld system to retreat from the engagement zone while others turned their attention to the next set of targets. As the Bogan ships began scrambling to get weapons locks on the new ships, another volley of plasma and proton torpedoes began ripping through the enemy ranks, depleting shield power and causing marginal damage to the hulls. Before the first return shots could be fired off, those ships turned and jumped to hyperspace, disappearing from their enemy's target solutions.

And the other group that had jumped away came back at another angle, pounding the same weakened ships with a volley of their finest weaponry. Five command ships exploded, and another fifty followed with two more passes of the fast ships as they darted in and out of hyperspace all around their targets.

Cooper watched the battle meld system work with intense satisfaction. Designed to guide the efforts of the entire fleet by tracking the level of damage to various targets and take advantage of both the combined computing power of all the available Pirhanas and their extremely fast hyperdrive power up sequence to swarm around the best targets, it allowed each ship the ability to operate independently while keeping it coordinated with it's flight group and the overall fleet efforts to perform with devastating results. Despite being the primary architect of the software, he was still impressed with how well it performed as it began identifying another opportunity for the available assets in the war zone.

"Corellian fleet," Cooper broadcasted after the sixth microjump brought his ship to relative safety as they reoriented for their next strafing run. "Your ships are better suited for tackling the fighter groups. We'll take care of the capital ships."

"_Acknowledged, Vornskr fleet_," someone responded. "_Glad to see you helping us out."_

"We expect to be well compensated," Cooper said nonchalantly. "Please follow out your orders. Cooper out."

After another four micro jumps Cooper noticed that the fleets were beginning to notice the pattern of attacks and were adjusting their defensive strategy, as he had expected them to, so he ordered groups one through seven to split off into pairs and pick targets at random with the same strategy while groups eight through ten resorted to high speed strafing runs through the fleet without hyperspace jumps, just to keep the enemy guessing.

Another flash of green light caught Cooper's attention, but it took him a moment to realize that the target was no longer Centerpoint Station. They were firing on Corellia.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Jacen and Eriana deactivated their cloaking fields and Eriana drew a lightsaber. As Eriana ignited her lightsaber, Jacen pressed a button on each of his wrists that made the armoured plates that consisted of his gauntlets disassemble themselves and retract under his forearm armour, exposing his hands from the insulating effects of the armour.

"Would anyone like to leave before we get started?" Jacen asked, enjoying the menacing tone of his voice through the Mandalorian helmet as he cracked his knuckles together. "Last chance."

"Draw your lightsaber, Jedi dog," the Chagrian taunted Jacen. "I promise I'll make this a fair battle."

"Forgive me if I don't believe," Jacen replied and flexed his fingers together. "In your promises, or a fair fight."

Jacen grabbed the last explosive pack mounted on his forearm and threw it at the Chagrian with the speed of a blaster bolt and Eriana lashed out with her lightsaber to bisect the pack. The pack exploded and Jacen took it over, directing and enhancing the explosive energy forward to slam into the four targets. The three lackeys were blown off their feet, tumbled several metres backwards and slammed into control consoles, but the Chagrian was only pushed back a few metres from the blow against his defense. Jacen took the fire from the explosion and created a blazing cyclonic vortex fed by the Force. He directed the blaze toward the Chagrian, encompassing the Bogan with the fire until a push of resistance scattered the flames into tiny tendrils of flame around him.

"Is that the best you can do, Jedi?"

Jacen collected the tendrils of flame and sent them upwards toward the reactor, collecting them together into a ball that he punched through the reactor casing.

"Nope," Jacen replied with a predator's grin. "I'm just getting started."

As the ball travelled through the reactor and all the instruments around him began glowing red, Jacen collected the enormous power in the reactor together and channeled it back down at the Chagrian, slamming it into his opponent's Force constructed shield with enough power to dent the deck plating under his feet. Jacen split the column of fire roaring through the air from above into two giant streams. He began shadow boxing, pummeling the Chagrian with the two fiery fists in tandem with his own movements, speeding up until he reached a Vaapad flurry of attack speed, scorching the Chagrain with blows that got past his defenses. As his defenses faltered, Jacen delivered a final blow, knocking his opponent ten metres into the air where he tumbled back to the deck plating with a sickening crunch. Jacen redirected the power of the reactor back toward the reactor, destroying it with its own blaze and sending the fire out away from him. When the power died out, Jacen noticed that Eriana had collected the Chagrian and was carrying the still-smoking body over her shoulder.

"He's out cold," Eriana said. "He seems to think he's pretty important, so maybe we can get some information from him."

"Do you think we caused enough damage to the reactor?" Jacen asked, looking up at the gaping hole that had punched all the way through the superstructure into space. Virtually the entire middle third of the reactor had been obliterated, and any residual fire was being sucked the hole. Jacen activated his gauntlets and magnetic boots despite knowing he had a while before enough air would be sucked out to put him at risk.

"It'll do."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The thick blast of green light sailed past the _Jade Shadow_ about five hundred kilometres away, but it still filled the screen.

"That wasn't shot at Centerpoint!" Mara exclaimed.

"No," Ben said. "They attacked Coronet city! It's been obliterated!"

Mara swore and blasted another fighter apart with her turbolasers before spinning the ship around. She noticed the _Squawking Mynock_ was still on her tail, and then glanced at the sensor readout on the Obsidian."

"Echo group, all other fighters, this is the Jade Shadow. All ships, form up on me. We're attacking that Obsidian. Repeat, all fighters attack the Obsidian. Their shields are down."

"Mom, Jacen's still on board."

"I know," Mara said darkly. "That's his problem, not mine."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-


	25. Exfiltration

Chapter 23 - Exfiltration

It took Jaina about three days to realize that her lightsaber battery had been drained. For some strange reason when her mom had tossed it into the cell, Jaina did not feel the need to escape her prison cell and never turned her lightsaber on. As the days passed and the upcoming court marshal became closer to reality, sitting in the lonely cell with only her thoughts to keep her company finally scared her enough to begin plotting her escape. When she finally had her plan in place, she pressed the activation button on her lightsaber and was rewarded with a faint sizzling sound, but no blade.

"Great. Thanks, Mom," Jaina muttered, holding the lifeless hilt in her right hand. While she blamed her mom, she also knew there was no way she would've been allowed a live weapon while in prison. It was just easier to assign blame.

Between keeping her boredom at bay and trying to figure out how to execute her escape plan, Jaina spent several hours playing with her lightsaber, dismantling it into major components and looking for ways to recharge it. She knew her brother would have been able to charge it with the Force given his aptitude at controlling energy, but when she tried, she nearly blew up the power cell in her face. As a result of destroying the cell, she was reduced to fiddling with the lightsaber and preparing it for a new power cell for when she got out of prison. Assuming she ever got out.

After she had finished working on the lightsaber for the third time, she finally began to bug the guard.

"I _promise_ I won't try to escape," Jaina intoned for the fourth time in as many minutes. "Let's just play a game of sabbacc."

The Toydarian guard cocked his head over to look at her with his giant bulbous eyes and grunted.

"Whatta you no understanda?" The Toydarian asked. "They putta me here to keep you in the jail. Yo mind tricks no worka on me, Jedi."

"I just want to play cards," Jaina insisted, privately annoyed by her foiled plan.

"I also very good at knowing when Jedi lie," her guard said and returned his attention to the console.

"You're just playing video games," Jaina said. "I'll tell Wedge."

"Admiral Antilles pay me to keepa you in that box. He don' care how I do it."

Jaina finally took a few steps back until she sat down on the bed. She stared at the bars for a moment of thought. They were made of durasteel, strong enough to take abuse from a Wookiee, and likely wired with alarms. She knew her sentencing was in a couple days and she had to get out. The thought of facing the inquiry panel drove her to look around one more time to see if _anything_ could help her. Her eyes tracked to the side of the guard where a DL-88 was holstered.

"Hey, can you get me a glass of water?" Jaina asked. "I'm thirsty."

"Meal comes in two hours. Wait till then."

Jaina stood up and walked back to the bars. "I said, come give me a glass of water. This is prisoner abuse."

The Toydarian looked over his shoulder and stood up. His wings unfolded and started flapping, elevating him out of the chair and toward Jaina's cell.

"You wait two hours. What parta you mind tricks no work you no get, Jedi?"

"The part where I bash your head against the wall and steal your blaster?" Jaina asked.

"Wha...?"

The Toydarian flew toward the bars with Jaina's command of the Force and crumpled to the ground. She used the Force again to pull the DL-88 from the guard's holster and quickly dismantled it. A minute later she had the power pack installed in her lightsaber and she pressed the ignition button. The brilliant violet beam sprang from the hilt with a familiar hum and Jaina slashed through the cell bars.

An alarm sounded on her first slash and she bit back a curse before slicing through the bottom of the bars and stepping out. The blast doors sealing off the prison began to close, but Jaina used the Force to hold them in place while she cut through the main door.

After several minutes of running through the ship corridors and avoiding search parties, she slipped into an empty command substation and hacked her way into the tractor beam control relays. She initiated a ten minute silent delay for a class-one diagnostic subroutine that would disable the tractor beams for about an hour. Next, she double checked that the _Falcon_ was still where it had been parked and changed the hanger bay access codes. Checking that the timer had 8 minutes left, she snuck out of the room and began running toward the _Falcon_ again, careful to avoid search parties.

Tense minutes passed with the sound of her boots against the deck plating echoing off the walls as her heart pounded in her ears, adrenaline and the Force keeping her senses alert. She nearly missed the last turn before the hanger bay, turned a half second too late, took the blow of her momentum into the wall off her shoulder and bounced back a bit to continue her run. She reached the panel to open the door and punched in the code she had programmed in minutes before.

Red words flashed on the panel and Jaina looked down the corridor in either direction, biting back a curse. Thinking she punched in the wrong code she pressed the buttons again, this time watching carefully. The same message flashed on screen, but this time she read it.

Hanger bay pressure not matched. Entry denied.

"Nice try, Jaina," Wedge's voice came from the panel, startling her. "We opened the hanger bay to space moments after you broke out of your cell."

Jaina looked to her right. If she remembered correctly, there was an auxiliary starfighter hanger bay two levels up...

"In fact, we've just finished evacuating and opening all of the hanger bays," Wedge continued. "Feel free to try an escape pod if you'd like. It'll make collecting you a lot easier."

"I need to get out of here, Wedge," Jaina turned back to the console and pleaded. "Just let me go."

"You know I can't do that, Jaina," Wedge said sincerely. "You need us. I have security teams on their way to escort you back."

Three security force fields activated around Jaina, trapping her in position right in front of the hanger door. She could hear the clomping of armoured boots coming from all three directions around her and her heart rate jumped.

Jaina looked back at the console and the still blinking warning about the hanger bay pressure. Somehow the thought of her brother surviving on Ebaq 9 by using the Force to trap air came to mind. She reached into the Force and drew the air in the hallway away from the console and the door, creating a vacuum bubble around all of the door sensors. She used the Force to press in her code again, and this time the door quietly slid open.

Drawing air around her in a bubble, she ran into the hanger bay toward the _Millennium Falcon_. As soon as she entered it, the door slammed shut behind her, triggered by the air pressure sensors. Trying to ignore the twinkling stars and the deadly vacuum just past the edge of the open hanger bay door, she concentrated as hard as she could to maintain her air bubble and pushed it up against the _Falcon_'s ventral man hatch when she reached it. She keyed her code in and the hatch opened, allowing her to climb into her ship. When the hatch closed beneath her feet, she dropped the air bubble and breathed in the stale air from the locked up ship.

Knowing that Wedge would be scrambling fighters soon, Jaina raced to the cockpit and ran through the quick start up routine her dad had created for situations like these. In a mere eleven point three eight seconds, the engines roared to life and Jaina sent power to the repulsor drive to lift the _Falcon _off the hanger floor. She spun it around and saw the bay door closing, but smiled as she reached for the throttle. Slamming it to full, the _Falcon_ shot through the hanger bay with mere centimetres to spare.

Keeping the throttle red-lined, Jaina let the ship fly straight as she activated more systems. Part of the fast start up routine meant that only the sublight engines, manoeuvring thrusters and basic navigation systems were activated. She knew she did not need anything like life support or communications yet, but the hyperdrive and shields were second on her priority list. By the time she set them to warm up, she had twelve navigational hazards appear on her rear.

"Only _one_ squadron, Wedge?" Jaina asked aloud to the empty ship as she powered up the combat sensor suite to take a better look at her pursuit. "I'm not _that_ rusty."

The images of twelve X-wings faded in on the HUD, underscored by their relative speeds. Some quick math told Jaina that she had about twenty seconds before they were in firing range, and the navicomputer needed at least another minute.

"Oh, hell," Jaina said and reached for the hyperspace lever. "I'm screwed anyway."

Closing her eyes and letting the Force guide her left hand on the control stick, she pulled the leaver and launched the ship into hyperspace.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

With one reactor obliterated, three others severely damaged, and an entire wing of Corellian starfighters attacking, very few of the crew members of the _Tormentor_ had the time to care that a Mandalorian and Jensaarai were running through the ship carrying the unconscious and scorched body of their Bogan Warrior leader toward the little used hanger bays on the port side of the ship.

When Jacen and Eriana arrived at their hanger bay, the door automatically opened and all the lights were on, completely the contrary to how they had left it. Beside their cloaked ship was a ship that Jacen recognized – _Fang_.

"Here," Jacen said and passed the Chagrian back to Eriana. "Zara is here."

"Your wacky Twi'lek girlfriend that I almost killed?"

"That was an act for Krayt, y'know."

Jacen took his lightsbers out and they cautiously approached the _Solo Quest_ together. The boarding ramp of _Fang_ lowered with Zara standing on the end with her arms crossed.

"Looking for me?" Zara asked. "So very nice of you to visit."

"Well, I can't say I expected to see you here," Jacen said. "But I think we should all get off this ship rather quickly."

"I agree," Zara said and walked up to Jacen. Her lightsaber was still dangling from her belt unthreateningly and she had a melancholic smile on her face. Jacen felt absolutely no threat to her presence, so he returned his lightsabers to his belt. "I figured I should repay my debt."

"Oh?"

"You've saved my life twice," Zara said, her eyes pleading for understanding from him. "The least I can do is tell you that Krayt installed trackers in your lightsabers."

Jacen glanced down at his lightsaber hilts and shrugged. "I'll look into that."

"I think it's time for a new career path," Zara said, walking backwards to the edge of the boarding ramp. "Good bye, Jacen Solo. May the Force be with you."

With a faint smile, she ascended into the ship.

"That was weird," Eriana said, coming to Jacen's side. A tremor shook the ship, almost knocking them over. "Can we go now?"

"Yep!" Jacen said. He reached toward the _Solo Quest_ and used the Force to deactivate the cloak and lower the boarding ramp. Together they boarded the ship and Jacen split off to the cockpit while Eriana went to the cargo bay to secure their prisoner. Jacen took off his helmet and settled into the pilot's chair, glancing over to see Zara waving at him from the cockpit of _Fang_. A second later _Fang_ disappeared, and Jacen followed it out of the hanger.

"_Jade Shadow_, this is _Solo Quest_," Jacen announced. "Mission accomplished. What can we blow up now?"

At that moment the _Obsidian_-class destroyer jumped to hyperspace. Eriana stumbled into the cockpit as the ship shook from the hyperspace wake, but managed to make it to the sensor suite chair without falling down.

"_Dammit!_" Mara's voice came across the comm. "_Solo Quest, fighter group, form up on me. This fight isn't over yet."_

"Jacen, most of the Bogan fleet has withdrawn," Eriana said as she examined the displays in front of her. "There are maybe a hundred fighters and fifty disabled ships. Based on the debris field it looks like their losses are around eighty percent."

"Mara, Corran, please issue a surrender request to the Bogan fleet," Jacen responded. "They're withdrawing."

"_Acknowledged_," Corran replied. "_Surrender request has been initiated, _Quest_. Please extend our thanks to the Black Vornskr fleet."_

Jacen rested back in his chair and stared out at the giant shape of Centerpoint station in the distance. Even from hundreds of kilometres away he could see that it had sustained damaged with chunks of it floating free, but thankfully it was not destroyed.

"Jacen, Centerpoint is disabled," Eriana reported. He turned to look at her console where she had a schematic of the station called up, parts of it glowing red indicating damage. "It looks like the power distribution centre was hit. Everything is dark."

"There's no way they'll be able to get it working again," Jacen said. "Anyone who knows how to fix that technology was probably on the station."

Eriana activated the comm. "Corran, this is Bha'lir. Please inform the Corellian government to begin evacuations. The Corellian sector is no longer safe."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

In the aftermath of the battle, the Black Vornskrs had been granted salvage rights to the wrecked ships in payment for their services. General Cooper's fleet, with Eriana's persuasion, agreed to stay around and run interference for any ships willing to evacuate the Corellian sector. Surprisingly, very few did.

"We would rather fight than leave our homes," Corran told Eriana in a private meeting with Aidel Saxan, prime minister of Corellia in a secure military facility over five hundred kilometres from the crater that once was Coronet. Aftershocks from the settling tectonic plates had hit several times since their arrival, but they had been assured the facility was safe. "You know how stubborn us Corellians can be."

"Krayt's going to attack," Eriana said with startling certainty. "Staying behind is suicide for any Jedi."

"Corellia is my home now," Corran said. "I'm not going anywhere. Who knows, maybe we can set a nice little trap that will kill that Sith bastard once and for all."

"If Krayt believes that the Corellian sector will be a pushover, he will be proven very wrong," Aidel continued. "We'll be ready for him."

"Will you repair Centerpoint?"

"We need to make the best use of all of our resources," Aidel said cryptically. "But we are still assessing the extent of the damage."

Eriana tossed Corran a data chip.

"Call it a gift from Wedge," Eriana said. "Hopefully it'll give Corellia a fighting chance. Just use it responsibly."

"How many were your losses, Ms Fostenon?" Aidel asked. "I admit, I was surprised to see a pirate fleet come to our defense."

"Under ten percent of my ships will need time in a shipyard," Eriana said. "Looks like closer to forty percent of yours were damaged or destroyed. With the salvage, we'll be able to bounce back quickly. You'd be surprised how many people are interested in becoming pirates these days."

"The pay must be pretty good," Corran remarked.

"Too good," Eriana admitted. "And that's what scares me."

"You are not what I expected of a pirate leader," Aidel said. "Why did you come to Corellia's defense?"

"Right now the Vornskrs are a powerful force to combat Krayt," Eriana narrowed her eyes. "But one day we will run out of Bogan targets to hit. On that day, I'm going to need to know the best way to take down the pirate organization I built. Testing them in battle will certainly help with that."

Aidel looked to the lightsabers on Eriana's hips and she seemed to arrive at some sort of revelation. "Those aren't trophies. You're a Jedi."

"She's no Jedi," Corran scoffed with a proud smile that neither woman quite understood. "But close enough."

"I'm an ally of some Jedi," Eriana said elusively and pulled something out of her pocket. "One you'll be able to contact when you need help. Just be warned: I have pirates to pay, and we aren't cheap."

"How will I contact you?"

Eriana tossed the object onto Aidel's desk and stopped it on its edge with the Force right in front of the other woman. The blue sapphire ring glittered in the sunlight filtering through the window.

"I'll have someone contact you to give you a communication module," Eriana said. "That ring is your membership to the Black Vornskrs, and your encryption code to contact us. Who knows? Maybe one day I'll need a favour from you."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Left behind on the _Hunter IV_, Ami had spent hours wandering the halls, memorizing the layout of the old Victory-II class Star Destroyer more to give herself something to do than to do anything productive. It surprised her how the Black Vornskr members reacted to her. Having been given a bronze ring that indicated she was a Major, virtually all of the people she ran into gave her a wide birth, wide smiles, and treated her with respect. She half expected that the rowdy pirates that laughed, joked and roughhoused with each other in the halls would make cat-calls and lewd remarks, but merely waking by was enough for them to let her pass without incident. Respect for superiors seemed deeply ingrained in the pirate fleet, including from the naked man who had been locked out of the shower by his friends. He was kind enough to cover his modesty and smile as she passed by. Ami winked at him, earning a blush in return, but continued her walk, only glancing back to check out his bare back side once he began hammering on the locked shower door again.

Ami's walk took her through virtually every back corridor around the ship until her curiosity of what was at the very tip of the triangular ship brought her to where the front weapons targeting substation was located. Five of the pirates were sitting on the deck plating outside the substation playing a card game, and Ami could sense something inside the room was slightly _off_.

"Who...?" Ami asked vaguely, looking toward the closed door.

Realizing her rank, all five technicians snapped to attention. The one wearing a tarnished silver ring spoke while the copper-ringed pirates remained diligently silent.

"Ma'am, my apologies," the silver-ring wearing woman said. "We were requested to leave the substation on the orders of the Colonel."

"Yes, and a...a good job of it that you're doing, too," Ami said with as much authority as she could muster without bursting into laughter. "As you were, Captain. I'll talk to...the Colonel."

As the Vornskrs settled back into their game, Ami opened the door and found the room lit only by the distant starlights and the semi-circular array of glowing consoles around the outside of the transparisteel walls. Sitting at the very front of the ship in his hoverchair looking out at the stars was Luke Skywalker. With her latent Force ability she could barely sense his tumultuous emotions.

"Dad?" Ami asked tentatively. She took another couple steps toward him and hesitantly put a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her slowly, his eyes vacant of expression. "Are you okay?"

Luke blinked slowly and turned back to look out at the stars. She watched in awkward silence as he continued to stare into space for another minute. Deciding he wanted to be left alone, she took a tentative step backwards. She made it to the door and was about to press the release when she heard him say something.

"Sorry?" Ami asked. "I couldn't hear you."

"She betrayed both of us," Luke repeated, turning his chair to face her. Their eyes locked from across the room and Ami found herself unable to turn away. "She never told me about you."

"Would it have mattered?" Ami asked. As much as she wanted to get to know her father, she was not impressed by him so far. "You've been as much an ass to me as she has."

Luke pushed the control stick on his chair forward and closed the distance between them until he was just over a metre away. "This has not been an easy time for me."

"Oh, and it's been a fragging picnic for me?" Ami retorted. "First I get thrown into jail by a Hutt, then my estranged mother blows said Hutt up with a thermal detonator and breaks me out of jail to force me to find my long lost cousin – who I never knew I had – to save my dad's life –who I also never met – meanwhile destroying my career prospects in the process. And, after helping save my dear old dad's life, he treats me like a piece of Bantha shavit."

"You think you have it rough?" Luke shrugged unapologetically and shook his head. "I had to break up the Jedi Order that I spent the last forty years building. Half my friends have been killed, my brother-in-law is dead, and my legs been rendered useless by a Yuuzhan Vong poison. Then I find out my wife has been lying to me for thirty years about a daughter I didn't know existed."

Ami and Luke's eyes finally met again and after a moment they both burst out laughing.

"We're cut from the same cloth, aren't we?" Ami said.

"Sure seems that way," Luke agreed. "I'm sorry. I let my emotions cloud my judgement."

"Everyone's pushed me away my entire life," Ami said with a shrug. "I'm used to it."

"You shouldn't have to be," Luke said. He reached toward her and took her hand in his, and they both smiled at each other. "You did nothing wrong."

"Can I buy my old man a drink?" Ami asked. "There's not much else to do on this boat."

"I'd like that," Luke sighed. "You look so much like..."

"Finish that sentence and you'll be wearing your drink," Amy snapped. "Let's find that bar before I walk you out an airlock."

Luke laughed and cued the door release with the Force. Together they went in search of a bar, finally having found what they both didn't know they had been looking for.


	26. Aftermath

So...I kinda forgot to post the last chapter! My apologies. I can't believe I did that. I've been working hard on the next chapter, True Power, and I guess I got caught up in it all. I'm somewhat glad I did because I had some changes to make to help with the flow into True Power. I'm about 50% done it (I blame having to move, signing up for karate, and building lightsabers why I'm not done more) and I'm really enjoying some of the stuff that I've come up with. Anywho, without further delay, here is the last chapter. This will answer some of those lingering questions surrounding Ami that you have :)

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Chapter 24 - Aftermath

After a few days of separation where she had been living on her ship, Mara finally found herself in front of the quarters assigned to her and Luke with her hand trembling over the button to open the door. She finally pressed it for the requisite second it took to read her finger print and the door smoothly slid open into the bulkhead. She took two steps to enter the room and the door closed behind her.

"Hello," Ami said, startling Mara slightly. She turned to see Luke and Ami sitting at the table on her right and her heart skipped a few beats.

"Ami. Luke."

"How did the battle go?" Luke asked rather formally.

"We were able to stop the invasion," Mara replied in an equally formal tone. "But Centerpoint station was disabled. The Corellians are refusing to evacuate. It is unlikely they'll be able to repair Centerpoint. Jacen and Eriana kidnapped Krayt's second in command from his ship."

"Please sit down," Luke finally said, gesturing to the chair beside Ami. Mara reluctantly moved around the table and sat down, still not quite able to meet Luke's eyes. "Why did you keep Ami from me?"

A thousand thoughts shot through Mara's head at once. She had spent days trying to figure out how to answer this inevitable question, but her mind felt like mush now that it was in front of her. Part of her wanted to lash out at him for asking it. Another wanted to run away without saying anything. Another yet wanted to burst into tears and beg forgiveness. She finally picked somewhere in between.

"I was scared," Mara said. She looked into his ice blue eyes and felt tears welling in her own. "I was twenty six. I was raised by Palpatine as a career assassin. I knew nothing about love or how to raise a child. I never had a mother. I knew I had nothing to give her, that her life would be better without me."

Mara looked to Ami and wiped the tears from her eyes. For once, Ami seemed to look back at her with some inkling of understanding.

"I'm so sorry, Ami," Mara choked out. "You deserved a better mother than me."

Ami was about to reach out and grab Mara's hand when Luke interrupted with a tone as cold as ice. "You should have told me."

"What was there to tell?" Mara demanded, her voice hardening. "I was too scared to tell you for years, trying to justify to myself that you didn't need to know. I didn't think it was important, that we would never be together in any meaningful way. Then years passed and you proposed to me. A month before we were engaged I heard from Karrde that she hated me for abandoning her, and I couldn't tell you about a daughter that would never accept us as her parents. I thought you could go the rest of your life never knowing, that I had hidden her away well enough. When we got married, I was scared that telling you about her would frighten away my best friend and ruin his life. If I told you then, I would only have to admit I kept her from you for years. Every year that we were together I buried it deeper and deeper, keeping the secret locked away to protect you. To protect us. And I hated myself every day for it."

Luke stared at Mara for a few moments as he watched more tears trickle down her cheeks. He finally turned his hoverchair around and retreated to the threshold of the bedroom.

"I need some time," Luke said, and disappeared into the other room. The door closed behind him and Mara finally collapsed to the kitchen table, sobbing uncontrollably. To her surprise, Ami pulled her off the table into a hug.

"I forgive you," Ami choked out. "Mom."

Mara merely continued to cry on her daughter's shoulder, still not entirely sure what she should feel.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Brandy brown and red-yellow eyes stared into the depths of each other on the other side of the transparisteel in a staring contest that had long passed the three hour mark. Jedi and Bogan both seemed unwilling to break the tense stalemate, as if playing a game of "first to speak, loses."

What they were playing was not a game of attrition, for they both knew that the Bogan second in command would sooner chew his own arm off than divulge the secrets of his master. They were, in fact, playing different games. While Wyyrlok was trying to break through his Jedi captor's indomitable will and force some means of escape, Jacen was merely keeping his captive company.

"I need to pee," Jacen finally said after a while. "Will you be okay until I get back?"

"Why would a Jedi concern himself with my wellbeing?"

"It's the right thing to do," Jacen replied. After his trip to the refresher unit, he returned and resumed his place in the chair across from Wyyrlok.

"I will escape," Wyyrlok finally told Jacen. "I am destined to return to my master, always."

"I suspect interrogation or offers will be rather useless," Jacen said. "If you give me information, Krayt will kill you. Physical torture will likely not yield any worthwhile results."

"You have a keen mind, for a Jedi."

"I figured we could talk a bit." Jacen ignored the barb. "I did some research into your Darth Krayt. It seems that there was a Jedi Knight known as A'Sharad Hett that was captured by the Yuuzhan Vong and was given the privilege to experience the Embrace of Pain. They found that his mind degraded into insanity, evidently not strong enough to handle the pain. He began hallucinating and talking to phantoms in his own mind. Nothing that anyone said to him seemed to be processed correctly. Deemed a failure, he was given to some shapers that were experimenting with grafting Tom'nok beasts to their warriors as a possible replacement for Vonduun crab armour, but he broke out and they never found him."

"The Dark Lord's name and capture were never revealed to anyone but me," Wyyrlok said with narrowed eyes. "How did you learn of this?"

"I have friends from among the Yuuzhan Vong," Jacen said cryptically. "Do you know of A'Sharad's current condition?"

"_Lord Krayt's_ current condition is known to me."

"May I ask what you know?"

"I know he will hunt you down and kill you, Jedi."

"Are you aware I stripped his connection to the Force?"

Wyyrlok's furled look softened. He hesitated for a moment before his scowl returned. "You lie."

"Do I really look like I care enough to make stuff like this up?" Jacen asked. "There's only one thing I do need to know from you. Unfortunately, I will have to remain quite persistent about this until you tell me."

"It will be a cold day in hell before I tell you anything."

"My question is this; how did A'Sharad learn about the Black Sun?"

Jacen held out a com-link and used the feeding tray trap door to push it into Wyyrlok's cell.

"When you've had enough, signal me. It's a dedicated line to my communicator."

"What would compel me to tell you anything?"

Jacen stood up and shrugged. "Maybe the entertainment we have for you won't be to your liking."

He left the cell area and retreated to an observation dome where Eriana was watching the exchange.

"Do you think he'll crack?"

"Of course," Jacen responded. "Play the video."

"You do realize this is probably the most cruel, unethical thing I have ever seen anyone do," Eriana said. "Slaves on Kessel don't go through this kind of torture."

"That's because their torture is digging through rock," Jacen reminded her. "Just play it on repeat. I think he'll crack within a day."

Eriana loaded the file that Jacen had selected and projected the sound and video into the cell. A specially designed cell, it had been created to have holoscreens on all sides to bombard the inhabitant with images and sounds they could not escape. As the video began to play, Jacen winced at the mere thought of it and they both stood in silence watching it.

"Where did you get this?" Eriana asked in disgust after a few minutes. "This is horrible."

"It's one of my son's favourite videos," Jacen said. "I don't know what sick, twisted person thought children should be watching moaning and dancing anthropomorphic creatures that look like a cross between a Hutt and a spray painted Ewok, but this is possibly the truest horror in the universe."

By the time Jacen and Eriana left the observation bubble, Wyyrlok was already in tears.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The red light of the stolen holocron flashed through her fingers for the second time and Zara felt the energy of it pulse as it awakened. The image of Darth Vivectus reappeared, this time with a smile across his face.

"_Child, you have found your light._"

"I want to fight slavers," Zara told the hologram. "I want to bring an end to people who would do what was done to me."

"_You are truly ready to take on the mantle of the Sith, my apprentice,_" the holocron told her. "_Shed your identity and prepare yourself._"

"What will my identity be?"

"_I name thee Lady Talon of the Sith."_

"Talon," Zara said, trying the name out. "I like it."

"_Your lessons will begin now__ Darth Talon. Pray you learn them well."_

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

In a holoconference which brought Wedge, Leia, Tenel Ka and Lowie together with Jacen, Eriana, Mara and Ami, a solemn tone seemed to come naturally to the group as they discussed their plans on how to proceed.

"Our super laser refits are nearly complete," Wedge said. "We can do ten more ships with what we have available, bringing our total to fifty. I've begun deploying our fleets to take advantage of their stall. It seems Krayt's condition has stayed their hand temporarily."

"It could also be that they don't know where to hit us," Eriana said. "I should return to the command centre and help coordinate our efforts. We'll need to step up our game and press on. By the way, your fleet arrived at Corellia. I'm pulling the Vornskrs out now that the twins are here."

"Wedge, tell me where to go, and I'm in," Mara said. "I don't care what I do right now."

Jacen looked up at her and saw a face of solid determination hiding her almost perfectly disguised jumble of mixed emotions. She almost seemed to be daring anyone to try convincing her otherwise.

"Come to our meeting point in the core," Wedge suggested. "I think I have a few ideas on how we can use your unique skill set. Will Luke be coming?"

"He will be returning to Zonoma Sekot," Ami said, speaking for the first time in the meeting. To Jacen's surprise, Mara seemed to be learning of this along with everyone else. "He-he did ask if Jacen could take me on as an apprentice since he can't walk anymore. He wants you to take the title of Jedi Master."

Jacen looked at Ami, not quite sure how to process what he was hearing. Everyone else looked between Jacen and Ami in surprise, except for Eriana, who rolled her eyes. Traditionally, the exemplification of a Jedi Knight to Jedi Master status was done with some level of ceremony involving the master or masters who trained the Knight. Despite being granted the title from Yoda and Obi-Wan years ago, it was still a lingering lifelong dream to see the day his uncle would confer on him the title possessed by only the most devoted and skilled Jedi. To hear of it this way, Jacen had to bite back his anger as he answered. "Why wouldn't he tell me himself?"

"I don't know," Ami said before Mara could chip in her thoughts. "I'm just the messenger."

Jacen took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair to process his thoughts. He looked over at the hologram of Tenel Ka and felt her reach out and touch his presence with the Force. They lingered in the empathic touch for a moment before Jacen spoke.

"Tenel Ka and I are going to start a recruitment drive," Jacen said. "We have some bases that we've established and we think we can use them to recruit and train people in hit and fade attacks and guerilla warfare. Ami, given this, I don't think you're going to be learning a lot from me. I think you'll be better off spending a few months at the Jedi Academy on Zonoma Sekot to learn the basics before you join me."

Ami looked dismayed, but nodded in agreement.

"How big a team do you want?" Eriana asked. "I could contact Lanos and Rjon to help."

"They'll definitely help," Jacen said. "Lanos's experience will be invaluable for teaching new recruits. Have them meet me at the Sunboard Café on Telos in three days. We'll move along from there."

"Absolutely," Eriana said. "I'll also have our techs whip up some false credentials for you both and your ships to send with Rjon."

"Good, that will help." Jacen turned his attention to the image of his mother and Wedge. "Mom, where's Jaina? I got some sense from her that she was distressed."

Leia and Wedge exchanged an awkward, grim look before she answered. "We don't know. She broke out of the brig and did a blind jump in the _Falcon_."

"She was in the _brig_?" Jacen demanded.

"There was an incident of behaviour unbecoming of an admiral and a Jedi," Wedge said dryly. "Let's leave it at that."

Jacen stared at Wedge, dumbfounded for the second time that meeting. "Who is looking for her?"

"We don't have the resources to look for an insubordinate drunk right now," Wedge snapped, perhaps harsher than he had intended because his demeanour changed immediately after he said the words. "Jacen, your sister is unstable right now. We locked her up to let her cool off for a couple days, but she overpowered the guard and broke out before we could try helping her. Our resources are stretched really thin right now. I have five doctors and over a thousand patients with PTSD across the fleet."

"We gave her a command hoping it would give her some focus," Leia explained before Jacen could further express his anger towards Wedge. "She had been so distressed lately that we thought the responsibility would help her deal with her pain, but she became stubborn, insubordinate, and refused to work with her command staff. Her actions prompted us to strip her of rank. Kenth agreed to suspend her status as a Jedi Master as well, pending a review."

"So you thought locking her up and taking everything important to her away from her was the right thing to do?" Jacen asked incredulously. "What the hell is wrong with you? You don't take someone who is depressed and kick them around when they're having a bad day. That makes it _worse_, not better."

"Getting drunk enough to forget to wear pants on the way to the bridge to request a weapons test fire for the sole purpose of watching fireworks is your idea of a bad day?" Wedge asked sardonically. "What about when she beat up your old girlfriend the week before, _Jedi_ _Master_ _Solo_? Where does _that_ fit in?"

"Enough of this," Eriana snapped, standing up between Jacen and the images of Leia and Wedge. "We've all made mistakes in the last year. We've all lost a lot. And we're all facing a future from hell no matter what we do next, so bickering about something this trivial – yes, Jacen, right now she is one of our least concerns – isn't going to help us. I can ask some of our bounty hunters to look for Jaina, but that's about all we can do right now. We have bigger banthas to cook. Wedge, can you provide any telemetry from your fleet to help track her?"

"She took a blind jump but I'll see what the techs can pull," Wedge said. "Jacen, for what it's worth, we all want to see Jaina get back to her old self."

Jacen shook his head and looked away from the Admiral, turning his attention back to his data pad. He felt Tenel Ka reach out and give him the emotional equivalent of a squeeze on his hand as he stared at the datapad without seeing anything on it.

"I'm going to return to Zonoma Sekot," Leia finally said, breaking the uneasy silence in the meeting. "I haven't seen Luke since his injury."

"You'll be missed," Eriana said tentatively, trying not to upset Leia after the argument she just had with her son. "You know how to do this better than anyone."

"We will succeed, friend Eriana," Tenel Ka said. She activated a holomap of the galaxy to display hundreds of planets glowing red across the map. "Our safe houses and splinter cells are well established across the galaxy. The seeds of rebellion have been well planted; we need only nourish them."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The tangy metallic taste of blood in his mouth slowly brought him to his senses. Another relapse of the Tom'nok armour stole Darth Krayt's senses, blacking him out of existence and replacing him with the beast. His mouth dripped with the blood of his victim. He could not recognize the face. The bloody, bruised human looked like he had been mauled into minced meat by an animal.

The truth stole Krayt's breath when he realized he _was_ the animal.

"Master, it is time," the voice of his apprentice brought him fully back to awareness of his surroundings. Several crew members were looking on, expressions of sheer terror on their faces. He looked up at his apprentice, understanding just what he meant as the ruby red lightsaber blade snapped into existence.

"You will take my place as the master," Krayt said, spitting blood with his words as the pain from the Tom'nok racked his body.

"As is the way of the Sith."

"Then, Darth Titus, claim your place."

With a flash of red, Krayt's felt the too-familiar feeling of a lightsaber burning through his chest. He fell to his side and his vision faded to black as he watched his former apprentice walk away to claim his rightful place.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-


End file.
